tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19109033Fri, 31 Jul 2015 22:39:18 +0000dublinIrelandWhere?rahenyunsolvedNational Library of Irelandgaeilgedublin irelandobituary1014Gordon BrewsterWWIbrian borujerseyBattle of ClontarfRTÉtaoiseachBallyhaunisNelson's PillarballybrackeugovernmenthalloweenDublin City Councilblog action dayfamilygalwaykillesterkillineyliberty halllisbon treatynorthsideDonal FallonEnda KennyFelix LarkinMáire Kennedyclare hall. dublinfianna failgardakiltimaghlogomartello towerphotographystuart syvretsupervalu19162012All SaintsBelfastCharlie HaugheyChristmasDARTDonaghmedeDublin City Libraries and ArchiveEisteddfodFine GaelIsraelJames CurryMayoPaper of Recordceltic tigerclontarfdublin busfamily historygpoirishpat kennyrecessionreferendumsaint andrewschoolsignageucd1913196920112013Albert FolensCartoonsColáiste MhuireCraig MurrayDublin Welsh Male Voice ChoirEBRDEU flagExhibitionFianna FáilFranceGarret FitzGeraldIRAIrish TimesJacques AttaliJesusKilbarrackLiam SutcliffeLockoutMary RobinsonMichael EdwardsRuairí QuinnSommeThe PillarTheatre Royalbankersbanksbinmanbonocrimede Valeradean of jerseydáil éireanneconomicsfrenchgraham powerguinnesshistoryholocausthumourjames joycejames's streetlenny harperleprechaunlibrarylocal historymillenniumpat ingoldsbypearserico sordasarkozyspiderstreet sculpturetcdtescotg4westland rowxmas19661967Admiral NelsonAlbert ReynoldsAlfie ByrneAnglo Irish BankApparitionArthur FieldsBBCBVMBaby JesusBatteryBertie AhernBilly McBurneyBob KeyCanterburyCastlebarCathy ScuffilChurch of EnglandCollette GillConor DoddCorkDenbighDepartment of FinanceDepartment of Public Expenditure and ReformDublin 5Dublin City Library and ArchiveDwyerDún LaoghaireEECEden QuayEilis O'HanlonFindlater's ChurchFree Wales ArmyGodHGHaddington RoadHigh School DublinHodges FiggisHowthHowth.InvestitureJack the RipperJoan SharkeyJohn RedmondKilliney BayKnockLUASLarry O'TooleLate Late ShowLord MayorMSMMakeshopMan on BridgeMargaret HayesMary ClarkeMedlarNSANa GuthannaNazisNew Island BooksPete St JohnPhotoshopRaheny LibraryRaheny NewsRichard BrewsterRobb AvertyRoyal Irish AcademyRudolfScience GallerySeán FitzpatrickShane Mac ThomáisSinn FéinSouth Circular RoadSt. Anne's ParkSt. George's ChurchSt. Patrick's DayThe GemThe SpireTim CareyTim DakinTwitterWalesWinchesteradvertisingalan shatteralienall saints churchanarchistapostropheartausteritybailoutbelgrovebirdtablebishop of Winchesterbloomsdaybob hillbona fidebookfairbridgebubblecabinetcardscatholic churchcensorshipcentral model schoolchild abusechild sex abusechildrenclimate changecollege of europecybercrimedaniel o'connelldatabasesde Gaulledebt reliefdlrcocodownsizingdáileuropefather browneflagflandersfree stategraffitigreyhoundguillotinehaugheyhaut de la garenneholy waterhungarianindulgencesinterpreterirish governmentirish independentirish languageirissjames reillyjersey evening postjewsjim carrolljunk mailking james biblela chausséelimericklisbonlocal electionsmarathonmariannemediaminister for healthmount jeromemushroomnapoleonnazineil mcmurraynelsonoccupationone city one bookpassportpatrick pearsepenalty pointsporkpostcardsqueueradiorailwayroman catholic churchrubbishsexsexismshanganagh valley newssnailsoldiersouthsidetitanictorturetoxinstrainstraveltrevor pitmantánaisteupside-down flagvaticanvoice for childrenwaterwebwelsh chapelwexfordwomeny gadair#BAD11#BAD12#CSA. Reblogged#SackTheSub#powerofwe179717981804187919181942195519861996200920142RN3mobile50 yearsA Home of Your OwnACPADEFFIANIMAASAAbbey BridesAbraham FeldmanAbraham LincolnAdam WerrittyAdanaAlan DukesAlice CullenAll Saints' PhibsboroughAlliance FrançaiseAlligatorAmazonAmmanAmnesty InternationalAn Bord PleanálaAn PhoblachtAn PostAn Roinn Caiteachais Phoiblí agus AthchóiritheAnchor BooksAndrew LynchAndrexAnne FrankAnthony J JordanAnzacsAodhán Ó RiordáinAoileann Nic GearailtArabicArc de TriompheArchbishop WelbyArchdderwyddArmaghBBC JerseyBERDBVM. KillineyBalubaBangorBarbara TarrantBarcelonaBarry DesmondBathing PlaceBeaumontBeckettBeddy ReportBeresfordBergen BelsenBerkley RoadBerlinBernard CribbinsBernard SextonBertieBertie BowlBetty PurcellBig Jim LarkinBill ClintonBill O'BrienBill ShipseyBirdshiteBirrBishop CliffordBishop DakinBishop WillmottBlack ChurchBlackstairsBlackwatertownBlessed Francis TaylorBlog AwardsBlue EyesBob CollisBob DylanBoholaBoston CollegeBrendan TeelingBrian LynchBride StreetBrighid Bean Uí ÉagartaighBrigid QuilliganBritish RailBritish RailwaysBuck HouseBudapestBurgessBusárasCHQCIECaernarfonCageCampusCapallCarnegieCarol singersCarrie SmythCartoonistCastle LeslieCathal O'ShannonCathy SwiftCeltic CrossCentral Bank of IrelandChaim HerzogChairChannel TVCharles E KellyCharles Stewart ParnellCharlie FlanaganCharlie HebdoCharlie MasonCharlie McCreevyChief of StaffChris HobbsChristine JamesChristmas 2010Christy BurkeCian Ó hÉagairtaighCiarán WallaceCity QuayClasacCleona Ní ChrualaoiClerical Sex AbuseClery'sClontarf Historical SocietyClontarf RoadCoimisiún EorpachColm BairéadColm LennonCommissionConfirmationCongoConor DoyleConradh na GaeilgeConstitutionConánn FitzpatrickCoover UpCoprinus plicatilisCorbawn LaneCows LaneCroke ParkCrossCrownCrown PrinceCustom HouseCustom House QuayCymdeithas yr IaithDABDCLADDDADICEDachauDal CaisDalkeyDalkey 2012Dalkey Islands Conservation PlanDame St.Dan WagnerDanusia OslizlokData ProtectionDavid DicksonDavid HediganDavid NorrisDavitt RoadDean Bob KeyDelacroixDenis O'BrienDepartment of Economic Planning and DevelopmentDeric HartiganDermot LaceyDermot MeleadyDic JonesDick RocheDicky BirdDillwynDocklandsDoisneauDollymountDonncha Ó DúlaingDonnchadh Ó SúilleabháinDoreenDorian GrayDouglas AppleyardDoverDrumcliffDublin - The Making of a Capital CityDublin OpinionDublin in the Rare Oul TimesDublin public librariesDublinersDuke of ConnaughtDuke of WellingtonDummiesDunnes StoresDuras PressDún LaothaireECSCEIIRETEUbikeEamonn AndrewsEamonn KellyEdmond O'DonovanEdward BallEileen GriffithsEircomEithne FitzGeraldEl Zorrero FilmsElvesEmer BradyEmmanuelle d'AchonEmpire State BuildingEnyaEoghanEoin PurcellErnest ForbesErnest KavanaghEstablished 2011Ettie SteinbergEugene O'ConnorEurope DayFOCAL AwardsFX MartinFairview ParkFamily History DayFastnet CatchFather Mathew HallFergalFergus O'BrienFerrycarrigFiach Mac ConghailFingal Living History SocietyFinlandFirst Holy CommunionFlor O'MahonyForty FootFour Courts PressFr. Kevin ReynoldsFrancis Xavier HallFrank Fitzgibbon.Frank RyanFrançois MitterandFreecycleFreedom of InformationFroebel College of EducationFurry Park RoadFÁSGBHGCHQGaeltachtGallery of PhotographyGary GranvilleGate TheatreGeamaireacht na NollagGenealogyGeneral ElectionGeneva ConventionGeorge IVGeorge MorrisonGeorge W BushGeorge's DockGer GarlandGermanGerry AdamsGilbert LectureGlasnevin Youth Concert BandGodotGolden CalfGolden LaneGolfGorseddGrand CanalGraveyardGreat War RoadshowGreen PaperGreenlandGreg YoungGreystonesGuinness ArchiveGuinness StorehouseGutenbergH V MortonHSEHTVHackingHadji BeyHangingsHappy ChristmasHappy New YearHarcourt Street LineHarry GleesonHeather Steel.Henry FairbrotherHigh WoodHilary ClintonHoratio NelsonHugh FrazerHungaryIDIan PaisleyImelda KestellIndependent NewspapersInvasionsIranIreland's EyeIrish ArmyIrish FreedomIrish Historical SocietyIrish HistoryIrish Independent.Irish Labour PartyIrish PressIrish StateIrish Times The TimesIrish VolunteersIrish neutralityIsle of ManJacinta PruntyJack LynchJames GandonJames O'ConnerJames ScannellJason BoltonJeanne RynhartJeff KildeaJeremy IronsJeremy PaxmanJim FitzPatrickJim LarkinJimmy DeenihanJoan BaezJoanna SiewierskaJoe ChristleJoe McHughJohn AvertyJohn BehanJohn BowmanJohn BrutonJohn CharlesJohn CooneyJohn DormanJohn DwyerJohn Henry FoleyJohn M KellyJohn P DwyerJordanJoyceJoyce's TowerJuan Sebastián de ElcanoJustin WelbyKZKaleidoscopeKatangaKay LonerganKellyKen KinsellaKevin BolandKevin O'HigginsKevin WhelanKilkennyKincoraKing HusseinKing KongKingstownKite FestKléberKnockanannaLabour PartyLarry GoodmanLas FallonLaura HarmonLedwidgeLeinster LawnLes Frères JacquesLiam CosgraveLiam DoddLiam FoxLibertiesLiffeyLinkedinLinotypeLisa Marie GriffithLittle Sisters of the PoorLiz RushenLlanellíLlangefniLondonLord ArdilaunLord LucanLouise MarrenLouise MellinLove HateLoïc GuyonLucanLucinda CreightonLucy KellawayLumumbaMainstream MediaManor HouseManus O'RiordanMargaret DunneMarie CassidyMarie HayesMark Leslie.Mark O'BrienMartin CallinanMartin ManserghMary DalyMary HanafinMary Immaculate CollegeMary Lou McDonaldMattMatthew GouldMax CliffordMax HastingsMay O'BrienMedlar BridgeMererid HopwoodMetalsMettlerMichael D HigginsMichael LaffanMichael ScottMichael SomersMichael WayneMicheal DMichelle BurrowesMick WallaceMidas ProductionsMidnight in St. PetersburgMillennium.MiraclesMise ÉireMollyMonsignor HoranMontroseMoore StreetMorgan O'ReillyMountbrownMountjoyMoveable TypeMyles DunganMáirtín Ó CadhainMíchéal HolmesNano materialsNaoise Ó MuiríNational Heritage ParkNational Memorial GardensNational Museum of IrelandNational Print MuseumNelson McCauslandNewstalkNiall O'DonoghueNiembaNoel DorrNoirmont PointNorth PoleNuala HegartyO'DonoghuesONUCOffice PartyOisin QuinnOlive TreeOscar WildeOzymandiasP J DrudyPJ MedlarPadraic KennedyParasola plicatilisParisPat LiddyPat WallacePatientsPatrick MastersonPatrick MortimerPatrick O'LearyPatrick SarsfieldPaul WatersPearse St.Pee FlynnPermanent TSBPerry McIntyrePeter BatesPeyton PlacePhilosophyPhotographic ExhibitionPolitical CorrectnessPontarddulaisPope FrancisPozières MemorialPremises to LetPresidencyPresident HigginsPrince AlbertPrince of WalesPrince of WalesPro-CathedralProse MedalPsarliamentQR codingQueen Elizabeth IIQueen VictoriaR4RDSRadio CentreRadio ÉireannRaheny.Raidió na LifeRaphael SievRathdownRathmines LibraryRay BurkeRay WatsonReal IRARed ScareRegina DohertyRemembrance dayRenaultRichard G BrewsterRichard Gardiner BrewsterRicky ShannonRobert FrenchRobyn GillRoman Catholic parish registersRory BreslinRose FestivalRosemary RaughterRosie HackettRosnayRoss HigginsRoyal Hibernian AcademyRoyal MailRuairi QuinnRuairí Ó BrádaighRuairí Ó Brádaigh.Russian RobbersRuth AdlerSCRSINDOSandycoveSantaSarah CareySaunders LewisSeanadSenan MoloneySenateSeán O'RourkeSeán RussellShankill StationShemusShemus cartoonsShona PitmanSimone WalshSir John GraySir John GreySir John Rogerson's QuaySmoking banSocial ClubSpa HotelSpanishSt. BrigidSt. George'sSt. IberiusSt. James's HospitalSt. John the BaptistSt. Luke'sSt. Mary'sSt. Peter'sSt. Thomas'sSt. ThérèseSt.Brévin l'OceanState PathologistStuxnetSunday Business PostSunday IndependentSuperquinnSupreme CourtSuzi KellySáirséal agus DillSéamas Ó MaitiúSéan Ó hÉagartaighTDsTK WhitakerTall ShipsTaytoTemple BarTerence BrownThe CoombeThe GroveThe History ShowThe Irish WorkerThe LibertiesThe Little Museum of DublinThe Print Museum.The WayThe White RussianThe Woman not the NameTheo BrewsterThird Programme for Economic and Social DevelopmentThomas FitzpatrickThree Sisters PressTimeTipperaryTom ConlonTom StokesTomi ReichenthalTomás Mac AnnaTony BlairToureenTower No.7Tower of BabelTransatlantic Trade and Investment PartnershipTrinity CollegeTshombéTurkeyTurkish DelightTéanam OrtTŶ BACHUDCUK Foreign OfficeUK bombing campaignUNUSAUnion JackUnited Nations Organisation in the CongoVanora BennettVernon AvenueVico RoadViktor GerashchenkoVirgin MaryVáclav HavelW B YeatsWB YeatsWT CosgraveWalk and TalkWarWar CrimesWeb SummitWhelanWhistleblowerWhite HouseWifiWilliam LawrenceWilliam McBrideWindmill LaneWorkmans' ClubWrecker's BallWrexhamYanky FachlerYetti RedmondZombiesabandon shipaborigineabuseaccentacornaddergooleadministrationaibaigualbionalice in wonderlandalivealzheimersambassadorambrose kellyambushamitiéamnestyamusementsand Childandy duffyangela merkelangleseaanglo irishanlageranniversaryanti-French deviceanti-social parkingantimatterapolloappealarchdruidarcheologyarchivesardilaunarmy escortarrestasset. irish timesateangaireachtau pairaubergineaustraliaavatarbad journalismbalanceballetballyvaughanbalticbamboo cafébang restaurantbaseball capbatchelorsbatmanbeautiful engineeringbedsbeefbelwetherbendigedigbenettonberlaymontbiblebig housebig pharmabig snowbig thawbinbin lorrybiometricbiosciencebirdsbirds' nestsbirdseedbirthbishopblack and tansblairblanshardbloggerblondiebloody disgraceblown upblueblurringbmwbob hewsonboherbon secoursbookbooksboombootbostonboycottbrass neckbreach of faithbrendan cardiffbricksbrigid's crossbroadbandbrusselsbuailtebuckingham palacebudgetbuildingbumblebeeburglar alarmburnt outburstbusbus stopbusiness studies.bustbutlinscabbagecafécamelcameracamouflagecanalscancercandidatecappanahanaghcaptchacar parkingcar registration platescarlingfordcaroline simonscastor oilcataloguecatch 22catscelia larkincelticcensuscentral bankchair bardchamber choirchange machinechannel islandscharactercheesecherrychestnutschickenchickenschopperchris hadfieldchristmas 2011churchchurch of irelandcinderellacitycity councilcity hallcivil servantclampersclampingclichéclientismclinicclive sinclairclocksclosingcló gaelachcoachcobblercoinagecollectioncollegecollege greencolonel benjamin fishercolouring bookcome here to mecommodorecommonwealthcommunitycommunity effortconcentration campconcertcondomconfuciusconnolly stationconor harringtonconsultantconvoyscooleycoolockcooperscorrectionscosgrave brotherscowardscowencrashcreative writingcribcrisis eilecrock of goldcroix de lorrainecropcrop circlecrossroadscul de saccuriositycurvycustom hallcutscymraegdaftdancing shoesdanny morrissondataday of reckoningdazzlerdealdean swiftdecapitationdecibelsdecimaldecorationdeformatiesdemocracydemocratic deficitdevelopersdiacriticdiagnosisdieseldigitaldigital photographydigoutdisposablednadoctordoctor whodomestic servicedoomdormant accountsdowntowndraghidronedronesdrowningdrugsdublin baydublin poetdublin tourismdublin.dubsdumb terminaldumpinge=mc2eBayeast limerickeasterecbeconomyeducationeffigyeggshellselectionelection 2007election 2011electionselectronic votingembassyembedemigrationemma martinsemployeesendaenda'senda's officeenforcemententrepreneurshipenvironmentepiduralernest blytheernest gowersesbeternal fireeu commissioneu eeaeu presidencyeucharistic congresseuro bananaeuro2012eurocrisiseuropean electionseyesfadafair dayfairy cakesfalls roadfaminefannyfather muleadyfaysfeis ceoilfemale genital mutilationfestivalfetusfgmfilmingfinancefinancial crisisfinancial timesfirefirefoxflickrflueflying enterprisefolklorefoodforeign officeforesightfornochtfountainfreefright nightfroebelfuneralfuneralsfáilte irelandféile an phobailgaagaelicgaietygallowsgalway hookergandon hallgantrygardengardiner streetgategatheringgay byrnegazageldofgendergenevagerry ryangift tokensglareglass bottle companyglassesglenstalgmgoing forwardgollywogsgooglegoogle mapsgoogle street viewgorgeousgovernment buildingsgrafton streetgrammatical errorsgràveguidelinesgulliver's travelsguy fawkesharphashtaghawkins streetheadlinehellhello Roryhelyhen partyhenri brugmansheritagehill streethoardingholisticholy masshomeopathyhonesthopalong cassidyhope foundationhornbyhorrorhorsemeathowell evanshtmlhuman rights.hunky doryhuntibrcicmsaidentity theftifaiglooimfimmigrantin memoriamincentiveingredientsinjunctioninnoinspirationinsuranceinterculturalinterdenominationalinternational space stationinternetinterrogationinvestmentiris rankinirish lifeirish mirrorirish parliamentirish solutionirish sun.irishmenislam karimovisraelisitalianivor callelyjack cruisejack strawjam jarjames dillonjean shouldicejellyfishjerry buildersjesuitsjewishjoan burtonjohn byrnejohn charles mcquaidjohn kellyjohn nettlesjournalismjukeboxkenny reportkildare streetkilmainhamking jameskiss and ridekolkatakonstantin raudivel'innovationladylahardanelanguagelast supperlaunchlawlaying offlegislationleinster houselemon's soapleonardo da vincileopold bloomletterlettera 32liberation theologylibertaslidllifelife expectancylimitlinesmanlithuanialocallouis smithlouthlovelucky lumplynne kelleherlyons tealégion d'honneurmamacmahon's foodstoremainframemammammymanuscripts commissionmapsmarklinmartellomassmass cardsmaternitymattress mickmaturitymeathmeath st.medical cardmedicinemedicsmelbournemeltdownmemorialmemorial gardenmerrion rowmerrion squaremichael judgemichael yeatesmickeymilitary roadmilk bottlemini-computerministerministersministrelsmobile phonemocha barmodel trainsmoderationmolly malonemoniteurmonitoringmonksmonsantomont orgeuil castlemorselmortal sinmother's daymount murrionmousemovingmuggingsmummurdermurroemuseummusicmyxomatosismáirtín ó muilleoirnakednamaname callingnaoise nunnnappiesnatalie kloudanational archivesnational librarynational schoolsnationalisationnatural justicendpnegativesnew yearnfaninjanipplesnitelinknonodecitynoisemapnorth koreanorthboundnorthern irelandnorthside shopping centrenovicenranumber eleven busnumericoathoblatesoffside ruleold age pensionold folks at homeolhausenolivettiolympicsolympusopen accessoppressionoutside toiletoxendalespackagingpaddy the plastererpaedophiliapainpalestinepalm frondspan collinspaperpaper hangingpark and rideparlon countryparnell squarepat rabbittepatientpatriotpatriotspatépawnbrokerpeace commissionerpeace in our timepearse stationpeilpencilperkspeter banderpeter panphoenix magazinephonephone tappingphoto competitionphotographerpicketpiggerypiggybankpinspissingplain wordsplanningplayplunderpneumoniapoetpolar bearspolishpolitical rallypolitical sciencepoppyportfoliosposteringpotatoepotuspovertypowder roompremature indignationpresentprivate eyeprivate sectorprogrammingproperty boomproperty bubbleprotestpubicpublic sectorpunched cardspunishmentpurgatoryquaylequeens universityrabbitsrafteryrailcar accidentrathminesrc churchreal foodreal presencerealtimereclyclerecruitrecruitmentredundantreflectionreformregulationrelicremainsremembrancerenditionrenewalreportsrepressionrepublican deadrerunresourceresource grabretailriddlerrightsroad deathrobert louis stevensonrocketroisin shorthallronnie delanyrotundaroundaboutroyalsrubbish mountainrunnersruth gibsonrégimesafetysalary capsalesam mézecsame sex marriagesarah fergusonscamscannersscareyschool tripscuttingsea cadetsseapointsecular christmassecuritisationsecurityself resetting mousetrapselfiesellotapesenatorseparatorsermonservicesexual contentseán lemassshawshell shockshopping mallsian masseysignallingsignpainterssignssilly burgerssixty-sixskyslavesslippery slopeslugsmokingsnafusnowsobosocietysoftwaresolemniserssoundbytessouth great george's streetsouthboundspace shootspamspeed limitspend a pennyspending cutsspiderssponsorshipspookyst. andrew'sst. catherinesst. louis conventst. mary's university collegestabbingsstandardsstarduststarsstatcounterstatestatic electricitystickstoney's barstormstreet artstreet namesstreetviewstádassub-editorsumacsunday timessupermarketsurfing websurvivorsweetsswenyswordtalktara st.taxteatelemetrytelevisiontemptedtensterry pronetesttesticle eating fish.testiclestethertetheringtextthe bald truth jerseytheftthousandsthreepenny bittiaratidy townstightstinkerbelltoilettoilet papertomatoetotem poletoy soldierstoystraffictraffic lawstraffic lighttranslatortransporttransubstantiationtrashtrashedtraytreasure islandtreatmenttreetriangtricycletrinitytroughtweettweetdecktweetstwo legged cattynged yr iaithtypewritertyposunionistsupside downupsidedownurban legendurban planningusbuzbekistanvalerie carrollvalvesvan allen beltvaradkarvictoria collegeviolinvirtual realitywalkwallpaperwarheadswasteweb designweddingwedding receptionwellingtonwexford townwheeliewhiskaswhodunnitwhy botherwindwindsockwinston churchillwmdworkworkers solidarity movementworkshopworld bankwrapwrighting a wrongwriterswsmxtravisionyeatsyesyoav shamirysgol fomiozero gravityzionzx spectrum£sdphotopolCurrent issues and commentaryhttp://photopol.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Póló)Blogger542125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19109033.post-8666414955101864423Thu, 30 Jul 2015 23:53:00 +00002015-07-31T23:39:18.706+01:00free stateshell shockWWINobody's Children<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9-JTsObQ5DA/VbpQlKn24NI/AAAAAAAAHyY/Qtr098TGizw/s1600/nobodys_children_nli_300715.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9-JTsObQ5DA/VbpQlKn24NI/AAAAAAAAHyY/Qtr098TGizw/s350/nobodys_children_nli_300715.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Michael Robinson & Redmond's volunteers<br />Click any image for a larger version</i></div><br />Yesterday's (30/7/2015) lunchtime talk in the National Library of Ireland was entitled <i><b>Nobody's Children:The treatment for Shell-Shocked Great War veterans in the Irish Free State</b></i> and it was given by <i><b>Michael Robinson</b></i> of the <i>University of Liverpool's Institute of Irish Studies</i>. The talk was based on part of his research for his PhD.<br /><br />I always enjoy going to these talks. Even if I don't learn something directly relating to my family history or local history, or meet with new contacts, there is always some aspect of the thing to file away for the future.<br /><br />I had an uncle who died on the Somme and a grand uncle who returned from WWI wounded. While I gather the latter's wounds were physical, I don't think there is any way anyone could return from at least three years in the trenches and still be completely right in the head.<br /><br />So I was really interested in Michael's take on how the shell shocked returnees fared.<br /><br />I was aware of the shame of it: them having fought for the monarch who was occupying Ireland and against our potential ally, the Germans. Indeed, had I known about either of the above soldiers at the time I would certainly not have mentioned them in the school I went to and would probably have felt quite bad about the whole matter. Thankfully, however, they have been allowed down from the attic for some time now and we have a better appreciation of the reality of those times.<br /><br />What I hadn't appreciated was some of the nuances that Michael highlighted. <br /><br />For example, had these shell shocked returnees been given special treatment by the Free State, would the same have been required for those who suffered in the War of Independence, and in the Civil War (including, God forbid, the anti-Treatyites)?<br /><br />Also, poverty and unemployment were rampant at the time and there would have been very little inclination to give special treatment to the returnees anyway. While Michael has established that they were not actively discriminated against they certainly did not benefit from any positive discrimination such as we might see as desirable today.<br /><br />And if there had to be any prioritisation, it would surely have been for the physically disabled whose disabilities would be more obvious to all.<br /><br />And then there was the general stigma attaching to mental illness at the time, not just for the victim but for the whole family.<br /><br />There were only three institutions in the whole of Ireland at the time which took in these shell shocked returnees. That clearly was only a drop in the ocean.<br /><br />There was a scheme called the <i>King's National Roll</i> which employers signed up to and where they guaranteed to allocate 5% of jobs to ex-servicemen with disabilities. However, that scheme was not implemented in the Free State where the attitude was that these men fought for the British so the British could look after them.<br /><br />Also, the benefits the British Legion brought to those in Britain and Northern Ireland were not replicated in the South where the Legion was very disorganised and underfunded. <br /><br />Some employers, such as Guinness, did undertake at the outset to re-employ returnees and they did honour this undertaking, but that still left a lot of returnees fending for themselves or living a life of panic and despair under the cloak of caring families. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2-XYd4DwbrU/VbpTKE4-hGI/AAAAAAAAHyk/bWX6tzwSg8c/s1600/john_tess_burgess.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2-XYd4DwbrU/VbpTKE4-hGI/AAAAAAAAHyk/bWX6tzwSg8c/s350/john_tess_burgess.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>John Burgess, his wife Tess (née Fitzsimons) <br />& firstborn Sadie (c. Sept. 1910)</i></div><br />The story of my wounded grand uncle, John Burgess, is an interesting one. His father Christopher was a master bootmaker with premises in James's Street. The father was approaching retirement and John, who worked in the business, and even had a company house provided nearby, was the heir apparent. <br /><br />When John enlisted, possibly as late as early 1915, his father disinherited him and threw his wife and children out of the company house. They took refuge in Oxmantown Rd. on the northside and when John eventually came home wounded he was unemployed.<br /><br />He got a temporary job with a shoemaker in Capel Street whose sons were not quite old enough at the time to do the work. That didn't last and he subsequently got a job in the Gas Company and eventually in Dublin Corporation. I suspect his getting the latter two jobs were not unconnected to his campaigning for Alfie Byrne in Corpo and Dáil elections and to a nephew being a prominent member of the Corporation itself.<br /><br />So, at the end of the day, he could have come out worse. But, of course, most of the returnees wouldn't have had those sort of connections.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-b53VfMj3aoY/VbvM-RsHjWI/AAAAAAAAHy4/AsvZCmdyn5I/s1600/john_burgess_exukservice_medcard_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-b53VfMj3aoY/VbvM-RsHjWI/AAAAAAAAHy4/AsvZCmdyn5I/s350/john_burgess_exukservice_medcard_1.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dAvtSZUCxqc/VbvNEpRZoYI/AAAAAAAAHzA/AHJt_NXLmFE/s1600/john_burgess_exukservice_medcard_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dAvtSZUCxqc/VbvNEpRZoYI/AAAAAAAAHzA/AHJt_NXLmFE/s350/john_burgess_exukservice_medcard_2.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>John Burgess's ex-UK-serviceman's Irish medical card</i></div><br />Since originally doing this post yesterday, I have just come across John Burgess's medical card, issued by the Irish Department of Social Welfare, but based on his WWI military disability discharge. So despite what was said above, the Irish State, albeit at a later stage, did seem to accept some responsibility or agency in the matter.<br /><br />http://photopol.blogspot.com/2015/07/nobodys-children.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Póló)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19109033.post-212034240531958697Mon, 20 Jul 2015 22:03:00 +00002015-07-23T10:37:41.904+01:00DelacroixJeanne RynhartmarianneMollyMolly<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N7dmiUKWBBU/Va1fDKt11RI/AAAAAAAAHw4/sEtbairDZ-o/s1600/molly_marianne.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N7dmiUKWBBU/Va1fDKt11RI/AAAAAAAAHw4/sEtbairDZ-o/s350/molly_marianne.jpg" style="border:0px;border-width:10px;border-color:gold;border-style:solid;border-style:ridge;"/></a><br /><i>Click on any image for a larger version</i></div><br />I'm not sure this is quite what <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eug%C3%A8ne_Delacroix" target="blank">Delacroix</a> had in mind when he painted <i>"<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eug%C3%A8ne_Delacroix#Liberty_Leading_the_People" target="blank">Liberty leading the people</a>"</i> at the time of the 1830 revolt against Charles X. His <i>Marianne</i> was almost equally well endowed but not a patch on our <i>Molly</i><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NANMd1OjmfI/Va1fLmn1XbI/AAAAAAAAHxA/W2MCbPNIz8A/s1600/molly_6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NANMd1OjmfI/Va1fLmn1XbI/AAAAAAAAHxA/W2MCbPNIz8A/s350/molly_6.jpg" style="border:0px;border-width:10px;border-color:gold;border-style:solid;border-style:ridge;"/></a></div><br />This is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molly_Malone" target="blank">Molly</a> as we normally think of her, wheeling her wheelbarrow through streets broad and narrow - from Grafton Street to Andrew Street as it happens.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sVbAYuznzjo/Va1fd_ukYaI/AAAAAAAAHxI/Fx8ssVr_yhU/s1600/molly_4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sVbAYuznzjo/Va1fd_ukYaI/AAAAAAAAHxI/Fx8ssVr_yhU/s350/molly_4.jpg" style="border:0px;border-width:10px;border-color:gold;border-style:solid;border-style:ridge;"/></a></div><br />This piece of street sculpture has fascinated me since it appeared on the streets of Dublin. Boobs aside, it is a most expressive and elusive piece of work.<br /><br />I have strung together here just a few of the photos I have taken as I passed by. Molly can be domineering, teasing, bewildered, coy, attractive and even pretty.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LPuHgs_z7Rs/Va1f02zSH9I/AAAAAAAAHxY/UNAhpShKEmo/s1600/molly_5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LPuHgs_z7Rs/Va1f02zSH9I/AAAAAAAAHxY/UNAhpShKEmo/s350/molly_5.jpg" style="border:0px;border-width:10px;border-color:gold;border-style:solid;border-style:ridge;"/></a></div><br />Some people may feel the boobs intrusive but I have seen them defended on the basis that in those days mothers were breastfeeding all over the place and boobs were popping in and out like nobody's business.<br /><br />Quite a current resonance then.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-P0jSVdSE3m4/Va1f006oX1I/AAAAAAAAHxQ/XuSALGnIQiw/s1600/molly_3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-P0jSVdSE3m4/Va1f006oX1I/AAAAAAAAHxQ/XuSALGnIQiw/s350/molly_3.jpg" style="border:0px;border-width:10px;border-color:gold;border-style:solid;border-style:ridge;"/></a></div><br />I always felt she was up for more than just pushing a wheelbarrow round the streets of Dublin. These photos show just a few of the Mollys encapsulated in this one piece of street sculpture.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NiGiSwzvbYY/Va1f0x0iXzI/AAAAAAAAHxU/mZXkpqoEdlA/s1600/molly_8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NiGiSwzvbYY/Va1f0x0iXzI/AAAAAAAAHxU/mZXkpqoEdlA/s350/molly_8.jpg" style="border:0px;border-width:10px;border-color:gold;border-style:solid;border-style:ridge;"/></a></div><br />This lady could be mistress of one of those nearby Georgian Houses instead of delivering fish to the door.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NgzFdouo9CA/Va1gGJbY5UI/AAAAAAAAHxo/DjLC7RRdOFk/s1600/molly_7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NgzFdouo9CA/Va1gGJbY5UI/AAAAAAAAHxo/DjLC7RRdOFk/s350/molly_7.jpg" style="border:0px;border-width:10px;border-color:gold;border-style:solid;border-style:ridge;"/></a></div><br />Here she is in her new, temporary, location in Andrew Street, outside the church that now serves as a tourist office.<br /><br />This is her most assertive pose. You can feel the steel, so to speak, and this is the one I used to give her a play at being <i>Marianne</i> for Delacroix.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cSk4KdWh5Pg/Va1gGFVSexI/AAAAAAAAHxs/PVXCp3VIsp4/s1600/molly_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cSk4KdWh5Pg/Va1gGFVSexI/AAAAAAAAHxs/PVXCp3VIsp4/s350/molly_2.jpg" style="border:0px;border-width:10px;border-color:gold;border-style:solid;border-style:ridge;"/></a></div><br />But I'd prefer to leave you with this one which has an air of gentility and serenity about it.<br /><br />The background is a building currently, and conveniently, being renovated in Suffolk Street.<br /><br />Molly was sculpted by Dubliner <a href="http://www.rynhartbronze.com/shop/" target="blank">Jeanne Rynhart</a>.<br /><br />http://photopol.blogspot.com/2015/07/molly.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Póló)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19109033.post-9084847759843868836Wed, 08 Jul 2015 19:42:00 +00002015-07-09T11:58:51.299+01:00Bishop CliffordDwyerNational Library of IrelandRoman Catholic parish registersGrand-aunt Ellen<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-87uVLHFeep0/VZ12yFFPsiI/AAAAAAAAHwM/z15DjgoBJv8/s1600/nli_reg_home.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-87uVLHFeep0/VZ12yFFPsiI/AAAAAAAAHwM/z15DjgoBJv8/s350/nli_reg_home.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>NLI Catholic Parish Registers Home Page<br />Click any image for a larger version</i></div><br />Full marks to The National Library of Ireland (NLI) for <a href="http://registers.nli.ie/" target="blank">digitising</a> their microfilm collection of Roman Catholic parish records. This will make a priceless resource available to a wider audience and all in the comfort of their own homes. And the service is still for free.<br /><br />I would also like to compliment NLI on an earlier stand they took, in the face of possible hellfire and legal challenge, to release the records of those dioceses where the bishops, and one in particular, sought to limit or deny access to the filmed version of their records. I have recorded my own <a href="http://bullsxvi.blogspot.ie/2008/08/to-every-cow-her-calf.html" target="blank">adventures</a> in this saga elsewhere.<br /><br />A tiny word of warning: while virtually all the parishes in the country appear on film there are a few exceptions. I don't know the reason for these. Perhaps the PP had a liver on the day. Don't despair, though, the chances are you can approach the parish office directly and you never know, it might turn out to be a well worthwhile visit. Mine <a href="http://photopol.blogspot.ie/2010/05/seek-and-ye-shall-find.html" target="blank">did</a>.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UK_NjaHueDQ/VZ1bigGIXHI/AAAAAAAAHvY/EsDv0QgoNG0/s1600/nli_reg_header.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UK_NjaHueDQ/VZ1bigGIXHI/AAAAAAAAHvY/EsDv0QgoNG0/s350/nli_reg_header.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Exploring Murroe parish in East Limerick</i></div><br />Now that we have access to the digitised versions, don't think it will be all plain sailing. The clergy of the day were not uniform in the way they kept their records. In some churches, such as the pro-cathedral in Dublin, the information was entered into pre-printed templates in a ledger, and this is relatively easy to navigate. In other cases the registers are more like a child's scrawls in a copybook and it needs a very intensive effort to decode them. You may need to keep the aspirin or the panadol handy, particularly if you are searching for entries where you don't know the precise dates you're looking for.<br /><br />Where you do know the date, the NLI have incorporated a very useful slider to zone in on it and they have also indicated, in a side box, the range of dates covered by the page on the screen. They have also included buttons to allow you to vary the brightness and contrast and so forth and you will very quickly see why these are a godsend.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gRkvifT3hH4/VZ1eF8MjgDI/AAAAAAAAHv8/jeqQF_lT6sA/s1600/nli_reg_n0v_dec_1844.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gRkvifT3hH4/VZ1eF8MjgDI/AAAAAAAAHv8/jeqQF_lT6sA/s350/nli_reg_n0v_dec_1844.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Part of the two page spread per frame</i></div><br />It is important to remember that these records are not digitally searchable for names. The images have been digitised by the NLI but not transcribed. <br /><br />The diocesan authorities have had transcriptions done (by FÁS and possibly for free) but these are retained by the diocesan heritage centres who charge a whack for pushing a search button and there is no guarantee that such searches are comprehensive. There are also some other providers who have compiled searchable data bases.<br /><br />Even where you have the information from such transcriptions you may need to consult the originals, as I did, and this is where the great value of the images comes into play.<br /><br />You will get an idea of what faces you from the image of part of a two page spread above (click on the image to enlarge).<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1pApse-Tg5s/VZ1bipT3rGI/AAAAAAAAHvc/BO242iofmBo/s1600/nli_reg_ellen_dwyer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1pApse-Tg5s/VZ1bipT3rGI/AAAAAAAAHvc/BO242iofmBo/s350/nli_reg_ellen_dwyer.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br />Entry for Ellen, daughter of William Dwyer & Mary Maly/Haly</div><br />This is the bit of the page I was particularly interested in. It relates to 11 December 1844 and records the birth of Ellen Dwyer. Her parents are recorded in the diocesan transcription as William Dwyer and Mary Maly. However, the family I was trying to assemble had as their parents a William Dwyer and a Mary Haly (modern Healy). The Dwyer bit was straightforward: this is East Limerick on the borders of Tipperary which is Dwyer country. To the west of Murroe and deep into Limerick we have Maly (modern Malley) country. So the transcription was quite feasible and the transcriber was likely on his umpteenth Maly of the hour.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-929KgCnHiEE/VZ1bikyA_FI/AAAAAAAAHvw/eIRMAT7MXPg/s1600/nli_reg_ellen_dwyer_haley.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-929KgCnHiEE/VZ1bikyA_FI/AAAAAAAAHvw/eIRMAT7MXPg/s350/nli_reg_ellen_dwyer_haley.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>As above, cleaned up a bit</i></div><br />However, I wanted this woman for my family. Other than her mother's transcribed name she was a perfect fit for a missing piece from my family jigsaw. So I looked very carefully at the <b>M</b> in Maly. Could it have been a <i>H</i>. It certainly looked quite different from the <b>M</b> in what was clearly Mary. So what to do next?<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ERJS0NfcD8s/VZ1bjdQQLbI/AAAAAAAAHvg/BgJdR_nJKxU/s1600/nli_reg_houlihan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ERJS0NfcD8s/VZ1bjdQQLbI/AAAAAAAAHvg/BgJdR_nJKxU/s400/nli_reg_houlihan.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Houlihan to the rescue</i></div><br />Well, I decided to see if I could find that shape elsewhere in a context where it might be clearly identified as a <b>H</b>. One small problem was to find sufficient other entries by the same flamboyant priest who entered the original. Finally I found it. <b>H</b> as in Houlihan. No question. She was mine. Grand-aunt Ellen.<br /><br />And she's the one who, thirty-one years later, married James Meehan and their descendants are today living on the old homestead in <a href="http://photopol.com/james_st/cappanahanagh.html" target="blank">Cappanahanagh</a>.<br /><br />So thank you National Library of Ireland, and, Bishop Clifford, may you choke on your porridge.<br /><br />http://photopol.blogspot.com/2015/07/grand-aunt-ellen.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Póló)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19109033.post-9117413852253965328Sat, 20 Jun 2015 21:35:00 +00002015-06-25T21:28:58.512+01:00Aodhán Ó RiordáinBrigid QuilliganFiach Mac ConghailHowthJoanna SiewierskaLaura HarmonPat LiddyWB YeatsYeats & Howth<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3F1X3H9Vcyc/VYXImYZwNPI/AAAAAAAAHss/VUANmrAu3hs/s1600/liddy_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3F1X3H9Vcyc/VYXImYZwNPI/AAAAAAAAHss/VUANmrAu3hs/s350/liddy_1.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Pat Liddy<br />Click on any image for a larger version</i></div><br />In this decade of celebrations, including the 150th anniversary of the birth of WB Yeats, some serious effort is being put into claiming the poet for the Northside, well, part of him, at least.<br /><br />Yeats's connections with Howth are tenuous enough. He lived there for three years in his late teens. He has the odd reference to the area in the odd poem. But that seems to be it.<br /><br />Nevertheless that did not deter local TD and Minister for Culture, Aodhán Ó Riordáin, from organising a Yeats walk in Howth earlier today.<br /><br />Our guide was the ubiquitous Pat Liddy (above).<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QYON2Elt9Ps/VYXImTRPn2I/AAAAAAAAHsw/Raq2kreBFK0/s1600/oriordain_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QYON2Elt9Ps/VYXImTRPn2I/AAAAAAAAHsw/Raq2kreBFK0/s350/oriordain_1.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>An enraptured Aodhán Ó Riordáin</i></div><br />Aodhán (above) contented himself with what he referred to as the "housekeeping" ...<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kLxKQF_63fA/VYXImuMAnXI/AAAAAAAAHs0/rpozTwLtlO0/s1600/oriordain_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kLxKQF_63fA/VYXImuMAnXI/AAAAAAAAHs0/rpozTwLtlO0/s350/oriordain_2.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>No rest for the wicked</i></div><br />... and, of course, him being a Minister, keeping in touch with the powers that be.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3aWGyVuMMwk/VYXIxj2fwBI/AAAAAAAAHtM/VmfrB-w32dA/s1600/liddy_oriordain_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3aWGyVuMMwk/VYXIxj2fwBI/AAAAAAAAHtM/VmfrB-w32dA/s350/liddy_oriordain_1.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Pat's portable Public Address System</i></div><br />We had assembled at Howth DART station where Pat had given us an introduction and we had then wended our way up what he called the "sloping road" to St. Mary's Abbey. The abbey was originally founded when the monastic settlement on Ireland's Eye became too dangerous a location for the monks with the advent of the Vikings.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Hom9uJHv7aI/VYXImTpKTLI/AAAAAAAAHso/wnmlCj3CdoE/s1600/irelands_eye_smoke.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Hom9uJHv7aI/VYXImTpKTLI/AAAAAAAAHso/wnmlCj3CdoE/s350/irelands_eye_smoke.jpg" style="border:0px;" /></a><br /><i>A smouldering Ireland's Eye</i></div><br />Pat was quick to draw our attention to the fact that they were probably still out there on the Eye (above), though God knows what there is now left to pillage. An alternative explanation is that this is just the remains of the other day's fire still smoking itself out.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fft3O8GTZI0/VYxh1QW4x4I/AAAAAAAAHvE/nymlfkFLvrw/s1600/balscadden_house.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fft3O8GTZI0/VYxh1QW4x4I/AAAAAAAAHvE/nymlfkFLvrw/s350/balscadden_house.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Balscadden House?</i></div><br />Following this the group split up, with the fitter members doing the trek around to Balscadden House where Yeats lived for that briefest of brief periods.<br /><br />I went back to Findlaters for the poetry readings but not before taking a distant shot in the direction of the house. And no, it's not that big house. It appears that all I got of it was the greenhouse at the extreme right of shot.<br /><br />I missed the house because I didn't know what I was looking for and I'm not enough of a literary type to have wondered about it previously.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z2-tqSBJf_M/VYwC2feN_dI/AAAAAAAAHuk/tQL-FU3hubE/s1600/balscadden_house_collette.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z2-tqSBJf_M/VYwC2feN_dI/AAAAAAAAHuk/tQL-FU3hubE/s350/balscadden_house_collette.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>The real Balscadden House<br />Photo: Collette Gill</i></div><br />However, you can see the whole thing above (including the greenhouse), thanks to <a href="https://twitter.com/ColletteGill" target="blank">Collette Gill</a>, who was also on the walk and who knew what she was at. Collette's focus is normally more on Clontarf/Raheny where she will be remembered particularly for her trojan work on commemorating the <a href="http://photopol.blogspot.ie/2014/12/1014-retrospective.html" target="blank">1014 Battle of Clontarf</a> all through last year.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-afbBTcUMKwI/VYXIxuNsd-I/AAAAAAAAHtc/RH6Xz_QdXAA/s1600/fiach_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-afbBTcUMKwI/VYXIxuNsd-I/AAAAAAAAHtc/RH6Xz_QdXAA/s350/fiach_1.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Findlaters: initial confab</i></div><br />Back at Findlater's, it's first things first, with Fiach Mac Conghail, looking more like he was planning the actual Rising itself, rather than just sorting out his reading of <i>Easter 1916</i>.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MN9TRJpBGjQ/VYXJHdnM-0I/AAAAAAAAHts/LuZByNLHW5c/s1600/group_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MN9TRJpBGjQ/VYXJHdnM-0I/AAAAAAAAHts/LuZByNLHW5c/s350/group_1.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Aodhán and the four readers</i></div><br />The first reading was by <a href="https://twitter.com/fmacconghail" target="blank">Fiach Mac Conghail</a> who read Yeats's <a href="http://photopol.com/pics/yeats_howth_readings.html#fiach" target="blank"><i>Easter 1916</i></a>. This is a well known poem and I suppose the line that always stays with you is <i>A terrible beauty is born</i>.<br /><br />The next was from <a href="https://twitter.com/joannaissu" target="blank">Joanna Siewierska</a> who took her life in her hands and recited rather than read her favourite poem, <a href="http://photopol.com/pics/yeats_howth_readings.html#joanna" target="blank"><i>In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Con Markiewicz</i></a>. Joanna is of Polish origin, has just completed her Leaving Cert, and is Deputy President of the Irish Second Level Students Union (<a href="http://issu.ie" target="blank">ISSU</a>). Her poem was gently delivered and very evocative.<br /><br />The third contribution was from <a href="https://twitter.com/Harmonica26" target="blank">Laura Harmon</a>, orignally from Cork but now in Dublin, who is currently President of The Union of Students in Ireland (<a href="http://usi.ie/" target="blank">USI</a>). She also did a daring read, <a href="http://photopol.com/pics/yeats_howth_readings.html#laura" target="blank"><i>The Lake Isle of innisfree</i></a>. It is a poem that I like despite its being hackneyed to death on school curricula and elsewhere. I actually lived on <a href="http://photopol.com/sligo/sligo.html" target="blank">Innisfree</a> very briefly way back in the distant past. I have heard W B Yeats reciting the poem (on radio) and it was woeful. He declaimed rather than recited it, but I suppose that was the style of the day. Laura's reading was much softer and intimate and a pleasure to hear.<br /><br />The fourth and last contribution was from <a href="https://twitter.com/BrigidQuilligan" target="blank">Brigid Quilligan</a>, Director of the <a href="http://itmtrav.ie/" target="blank">Irish Traveller Movement</a> and herself a Minceir. She read <i><a href="http://photopol.com/pics/yeats_howth_readings.html#brigid" target="blank">The Stolen Child</a></i> which she said transported her back to her youth every time she came in contact with it.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zWBPMTV7NYc/VYXJHK3z1JI/AAAAAAAAHt0/NIiti8uBBFc/s1600/lady_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zWBPMTV7NYc/VYXJHK3z1JI/AAAAAAAAHt0/NIiti8uBBFc/s350/lady_1.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>The Stolen Child</i></div><br />My own <a href="http://photopol.com/james_st/gem.html" target="blank">connections</a> with Howth do not go back as far as Yeats - a mere seven decades. And my then tenuous <a href="http://photopol.com/pics/paulart.html" target="blank">connections</a> with the artistic world never blossomed, though had I sat for a real artist like <a href="http://photopol.blogspot.ie/2014/06/gordon-brewster.html" target="blank">Gordon Brewster</a>, who knows what might have become of me.<br /><br />Mention of Gordon does, however, remind me of a further minor, but not entirely irrelevant connection. It was through the Yeats family that Gordon met his wife to be, a young lady from the North Strand who they asked him to teach to draw. At that time he was living in Strandville, not far from the house where WB had briefly lived some forty odd years previously.<br /><br />Oh, and I nearly forgot to mention the Cocoa, well heralded by Aodhán, and the drink the Great Man drank as he wrote. This was served after the readings. I didn't get round to sampling it, but then I'm a <a href="http://www.horlicks.co.uk/story/index/" target="blank">Horlicks</a> man myself.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-D1QVUTZLU5k/VYXgXR2XErI/AAAAAAAAHuQ/DWMzgBpLZpQ/s1600/liddy_pointing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-D1QVUTZLU5k/VYXgXR2XErI/AAAAAAAAHuQ/DWMzgBpLZpQ/s350/liddy_pointing.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Don't believe a word of it</i></div><br />I started with Pat so I'll finish with him here making a (finger) point which seems to be received with some degree of scepticism, by his nearest neighbour at least.<br /><br /><br />http://photopol.blogspot.com/2015/06/yeats-howth.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Póló)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19109033.post-4997478368257059563Mon, 15 Jun 2015 23:30:00 +00002015-06-16T00:30:01.075+01:00Gordon BrewsterGordon Brewster - In Memoriam<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OBeXJyvtqkc/VWyKuyGbYpI/AAAAAAAAHqg/0XQSJB6TM_0/s1600/gordon_office.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OBeXJyvtqkc/VWyKuyGbYpI/AAAAAAAAHqg/0XQSJB6TM_0/s350/gordon_office.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Gordon at work</i></div><br />Remembering Gordon Brewster who died on this day in 1946.<br /><br />Gordon was Chief Cartoonist with Independent Newspapers and subsequently head of the Art Department in the first half of the 20th century.<br /><br />One of my proudest moments was to give a talk on him in the National Library of Ireland last November in the presence of three generations of his descendants.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C577FErjGaY/VWyMVpVwfBI/AAAAAAAAHqo/I9Flg5GfsS0/s1600/cover_5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C577FErjGaY/VWyMVpVwfBI/AAAAAAAAHqo/I9Flg5GfsS0/s350/cover_5.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Background material <a href="http://photopol.com/gordon/index.html" target="blank">here</a></i></div><br />.<br /><br />http://photopol.blogspot.com/2015/06/gordon-brewster-in-memoriam.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Póló)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19109033.post-7090788420679673413Mon, 15 Jun 2015 23:00:00 +00002015-06-16T02:12:40.014+01:00David HediganDavid Hedigan - In Memoriam<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--W5XkO-z-nY/VWyQYmXbOkI/AAAAAAAAHq0/es6StuPgd70/s1600/bd2014_trio_mod.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--W5XkO-z-nY/VWyQYmXbOkI/AAAAAAAAHq0/es6StuPgd70/s350/bd2014_trio_mod.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br />L-R: Niall O'Donoghue, David Hedigan RIP, Felix Larkin</div><br />On this day, Bloomsday, last year, David Hedigan did a <a href="http://photopol.com/martello/bd2014.html" target="blank">Joyce reading</a> at Niall's Martello Tower in Killiney. It was not only Bloomsday but his wife, Susan's, birthday.<br /><br />It is fitting to remember David today, he died on 30 March 2015, RIP.<br /><br />http://photopol.blogspot.com/2015/06/david-hedigan-in-memoriam.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Póló)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19109033.post-567804889905242787Fri, 12 Jun 2015 23:47:00 +00002015-06-15T11:14:37.445+01:00Attribution<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x1ynS3TKTv4/VXr-u1H249I/AAAAAAAAHsU/WbT04dV9Amg/s1600/swastika.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x1ynS3TKTv4/VXr-u1H249I/AAAAAAAAHsU/WbT04dV9Amg/s350/swastika.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>The Swastika Laundry in Lansdowne Road in the 1960s<br />Click image for a larger version</i></div><br />Those who know me know that I have a very open attitude to sharing information. I have a website and some blogs for a number of years and people are welcome to use the material I have compiled. I have done a whack of research on family and local (Killiney) history over the years and I have made the results available through illustrated talks and extensive background pages on my website. I am normally thrilled to see my stuff appearing on other people's sites.<br /><br />So no problem there. I really only have two conditions (and expectations) when people use or draw on my stuff. I would like, and am entitled to, some credit for the material, and all I'm talking about here is a mention of the source. And I do not like people, either explicitly or implicitly, claiming that my material is in fact theirs.<br /><br />I think that is a very reasonable attitude and I have put a <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/" target="blank">Creative Commons notice</a> on my blogs and website so that people are aware that they are free to use the material for non-commercial purposes, provided they credit it to me and do not mess it up.<br /><br />Anyone who has asked me about material has found that I am not only happy for them to use it, I am prepared to help them and put in some extra work myself if this is needed.<br /><br />So I have got a bit pissed off on a very few occasions over the years about what I consider unreasonable use of my material, the most recent of those being yesterday. I thought then that I would mention these few in a blog post, just to get it off my chest once and for all.<br /><br /><b>Old Dublin Town</b><br /><br />This is a very <a href="http://www.olddublintown.com" target="blank">interesting website</a> and the webmaster has put a huge amount of work into it and deserves a lot of credit for assembling such a vast range of relevant material. I have only two gripes here. <br /><br />Two of my pictures appear on the site without any indication of where they are from. The first is of the Swastika Laundry (above) on a <a href="http://www.olddublintown.com/swastika-laundry.html" target="blank">page</a> dealing with the laundry. And the <a href="http://www.olddublintown.com/uploads/1/7/5/0/17506079/1101170.jpg?892" target="blank">second</a> appears on a <a href="http://www.olddublintown.com/nelson-pillar.html" target="blank">page</a> dealing with Nelson's Pillar. There is no mention of where these came from though both are on my site. The <a href="http://photopol.com/signs/swastika.html" target="blank">first</a> appears in my Signs of the Times section, and the <a href="http://photopol.com/nelson_show/index.html" target="blank">second</a> in an extended slide show on Nelson's Pillar.<br /><br />My second gripe concerns a <a href="https://youtu.be/LHW7dogSGC4" target="blank">video</a> which appears on the Nelson's Pillar page and which is viewable either on the page or on Youtube. The soundtrack is The Dubliners on Nelson but the visuals consist almost 100% of pictures from my slideshow. The Dubliners are given credit, not on the page but on Youtube, but I am not mentioned.<br /><br /><b>Ballybrack Parish</b><br /><br />I lived in the parish for about twenty years and only left after getting married in this fine church. The parish subsequently acquired a chapel of ease in Killiney village. This is St. Stephen's and it is a beautiful little church. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imogen_Stuart" target="blank">Imogen Stuart</a> was the artist in residence for its construction and fitting out and she did a fabulous job. I took some photos on visit to Killiney some years later and <a href="http://photopol.com/stephen/stephen.html" target="blank">they</a> can be seen on my site. Imagine my surprise when in more recent times I was checking out some material in the parish newletter online only to find the complete set of my photos up on the parish site without any mention of where they came from. Fortunately, or unfortunately as the case may be, they are now gone off the parish site, swept away in a site revamp.<br /><a name="pues"></a><br /><b>Dublin, the old days and ways</b><br /><br />This interesting <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/dublinolddayandways/" target="blank">Facebook site</a> appears to be of relatively recent origin and consists of a group of people who have an interest in Dublin's history and photographs relating to it. I don't know why it is a closed group, but as the only way I could check it out was to apply to join, I did just that. After a slight hiccup with the admin I was admitted and started checking out some of the rare old photos. I fairly quickly came upon a piece about a grand uncle of mine complete with a photo of his old premises in James's St. I was well into the text when I started feeling there was something familiar about it and then realised that it was actually a <a href="https://puesoccurrences.wordpress.com/2010/04/22/family-history-pj-medlar-1885-1949/" target="blank">piece</a> I had written for the <a href="https://puesoccurrences.wordpress.com/" target="blank">Pues Occurrences</a> blog in 2010. It appeared here without any attribution and one could be forgiven for thinking that the admin who posted it had written it himself.<br /><br />Being the neurotic that I am, I posted a comment giving a link to the source of the text and photo. I also gave a link to a <a href="http://photopol.com/james_st/medlar_bridge.html" target="blank">page</a> on my site dealing extensively with a bridge, across the Grand Canal at Fatima, which had been referred to in the discussion on the post. And I also linked to a <a href="http://photopol.com/dca2/index.html" target="blank">page</a> on my site which gave a lot of background to a talk I had given on my grand uncle some years back.<br /><br />I took it, from the blue line on the left of my comment, that comments were moderated, but imagine my surprise when I exited the page later to find I was no longer a member of the group. Fortunately I still had a copy of the page open and took a screen shot which you can peruse <a href="http://photopol.com/pics/full_post_fb_alan.jpg" target="blank">here</a>. <br /><br />The discussion was lively and shaping up well and I was looking forward to participating in it and talking to some of the people who had actually crossed the bridge while it was still there. If you're really excited by this little adventure of mine you can see an annotated version of my exchanges with the admin <a href="http://photopol.com/pics/alan.html" target="blank">here</a>.<br /><br />It was a truly weird conversation as far as I am concerned. Remember, I am the injured party here. He is behaving like I have injured him and then to rub it in he offering me personal advice. I understand he is a hairdresser by profession and, in this case, he would clearly be better confining his attentions to the outside of other people's heads.<br /><br /><hr align="center" width="50%"><br />So there you have it. Anonymous testimony to the worth of my work all over the internet.<br /><br />http://photopol.blogspot.com/2015/06/attribution.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Póló)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19109033.post-3175455944413543849Fri, 29 May 2015 16:50:00 +00002015-05-30T11:04:43.244+01:00ConstitutionDenis O'Briendáil éireanninjunctionmediaWhat Constitution?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ejspWrt9bsQ/VWiClanmDPI/AAAAAAAAHpo/hCCCSoMXwEU/s1600/catherine_murphy_outside_dail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ejspWrt9bsQ/VWiClanmDPI/AAAAAAAAHpo/hCCCSoMXwEU/s350/catherine_murphy_outside_dail.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Catherine Murphy, TD<br />Click on any image for a larger version</i></div><br />I see it all as very straightforward.<br /><br />RTÉ wanted to publish some details of an arrangement Denis O'Brien had with IBRC (formerly Anglo Irish Bank). Neither O'Brien nor IBRC wanted the information published, on the grounds that it would damage his/their commercial interests, and they got a court injunction prohibiting RTÉ from publishing it.<br /><br />Clear so far.<br /><br />Catherine Murphy, TD, subsequently stated in the Dáil (Irish lower house of Parliament) that O'Brien had been getting significant loans at below market rates and, as IBRC was owned by the State, that this amounted to a massive taxpayer subsidy.<br /><br />O'Brien's lawyer immediately requested most of the media not to publish Murphy's remarks as either the information was already injuncted or he would obtain an injunction to prohibit publication (I haven't seen the letter so I don't know its precise wording).<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sjjV0Cr7kAo/VWiOlo4PyhI/AAAAAAAAHp4/u7PeS_dTEJE/s1600/donal_okeffe_it_obrien.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sjjV0Cr7kAo/VWiOlo4PyhI/AAAAAAAAHp4/u7PeS_dTEJE/s350/donal_okeffe_it_obrien.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Tweet of original article by Irish Times at 16:50 28/5/15<br /><a href="https://twitter.com/Donal_OKeeffe/status/603978963531206658" target="blank">Live link</a></i></div><br />Most of the media reacted by pulling any copy which contained the controversial information. For example, the Irish Times had already published it online but quickly pulled the item and a <a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/catherine-murphy-makes-denis-o-brien-claims-in-d%C3%A1il-1.2229946" target="blank">sanitised</a> version was not issued until some seven hours later. This is the paper that not so long ago consciously broke the law to protect its sources.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sGOGCtpkHG0/VWiPOF599HI/AAAAAAAAHqA/VcZHnr6DBFc/s1600/broadsheet_obrien.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sGOGCtpkHG0/VWiPOF599HI/AAAAAAAAHqA/VcZHnr6DBFc/s350/broadsheet_obrien.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Broadsheet.ie's response<br /><a href="https://twitter.com/marktigheST/status/603996622855532544" target="blank">Live link</a></i></div><br />Broadsheet.ie, on the other hand, stood its ground. It also revealed that it had received a legal letter from the O'Brien camp.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-roIjqh9BZlE/VWiQ5-IYnLI/AAAAAAAAHqM/G-JOOko49-g/s1600/peter_murtagh_obrien.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-roIjqh9BZlE/VWiQ5-IYnLI/AAAAAAAAHqM/G-JOOko49-g/s350/peter_murtagh_obrien.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Peter Murtagh's link<br /><a href="http://oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.ie/debates%20authoring/debateswebpack.nsf/takes/dail2015052800027?opendocument" target="blank">Live link to Murphy's Dáil Statement</a></i></div><br />And Peter Murtagh, of the Irish Times, did the clever thing late last night and tweeted a link to the Dáil transcript on the Oireachtas website.<br /><br />Personally, I think the issue is still very clear. Words spoken in the Dáil are guaranteed absolute privilege under the Constitution as is their reporting. Therefore no lawyer or judge can stop the media reporting Murphy's words in parliament. And that includes RTÉ.<br /><br />The injunction, whatever its merits otherwise, is not relevant to the reporting of Parliament and the constitutional guarantee trumps any court decision. The only relevance of the existing injunction in this case was whether Murphy would give any weight to it in deciding whether or not to say her piece in Parliament. Once it was said it was protected.<br /><br />So I'm still very clear on the matter (though admittedly I am not an authority in this area).<br /><br />What disturbs me is how the bulk of the media immediately ran for cover when they got the legal letter. These are the organs on which we depend to defend our right to information and our freedom of speech. If they can be upset that easily they are clearly not up to the job.<br /><br />Some politicians have called for the Dáil to be recalled to debate the matter, but it seems to me that it is not a matter for Parliament at this stage. It is a matter for those media who have buckled under a piece of legal blustering and fallen down on their duty to report faithfully what goes on in Parliament. Such reporting has a specific constitutional guarantee, for God's sake.<br /><br />It is up to Parliament itself to deal with the issue of whether if feels Murphy's statement constituted an abuse of privilege or not.<br /><br />I would be very interested to see the justification, if any, for the issue of the legal letter and to see its precise wording. I would also like to see whatever legal advice the media got which led them to pull their copy. There is something not very right going on here and it needs the light of day shone on it fast.<br /><br />Brian Lucey has an interesting nuance in his <a href="https://brianmlucey.wordpress.com/2015/05/29/dail-privilege-and-publication-you-can-publish-and-not-be-damned/" target="blank">latest</a> blog post. The implication is that if this were to become a regular occurrence and people's reputations were being destroyed by false accusations rather than by revelations in the public interest, something would have to be done about it. Possibly, but that's for another day.<br /><!-- mage: Sam Boal/Photocall Ireland Tom O'Connor https://twitter.com/justeconomics/status/604003914711732224 Donal O'Keeffe https://twitter.com/Donal_OKeeffe/status/603978963531206658 Mark Tighe https://twitter.com/marktigheST/status/603996622855532544 Irish Times amended piece (Barry O'Keeffe Cliff Taylor @23.02 original Michael O'Regan @ 16.50) http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/catherine-murphy-makes-denis-o-brien-claims-in-d%C3%A1il-1.2229946 (Final piece did not contain a link to the Oireachtas contribution but said that her comments had been published on the Oireachtas site.} --><br /><br />http://photopol.blogspot.com/2015/05/what-constitution.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Póló)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19109033.post-7955323171431356046Thu, 28 May 2015 09:47:00 +00002015-05-28T15:23:43.977+01:00churchlegislationreferendumsame sex marriagesolemnisersstateHEAD 7<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-y4pRo4GwLHs/VWbJ3f971WI/AAAAAAAAHpU/X-lpyHU6W9w/s1600/gay_marriage_simpsons.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-y4pRo4GwLHs/VWbJ3f971WI/AAAAAAAAHpU/X-lpyHU6W9w/s350/gay_marriage_simpsons.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Click any image for a larger version</i></div><br />Following the passing of the same sex marriage referendum the next stage will be the drawing up and implementation of the required legislation.<br /><br />One of the controversial aspects of the campaign was the position of religious ministers as solemnisers of civil marriages. At present, in the Roman Catholic Church, for example, the religious ceremony has the corresponding civil ceremony tagged on to it, so to speak. From the couple's point of view, this simply involves them signing the civil register in the sacristy after the religious ceremony. The priest is a registered civil solemniser and so the marriage is thereby recognised and recorded by the State. In my day we all knew that the couple adjourned to the sacristy "to sign the register", but I am sure very few of us, me included, ever fully appreciated the niceties of what was happening.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Lb7Z2tIEfAc/VWbCP2iR7cI/AAAAAAAAHos/NDEq1jUtwdA/s1600/marriage_bill_2015_h7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Lb7Z2tIEfAc/VWbCP2iR7cI/AAAAAAAAHos/NDEq1jUtwdA/s350/marriage_bill_2015_h7.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Proposed exemption - click for larger image</i></div><br />Bringing in civil same sex marriage created a potential problem for the Church. In fulfilling his civil function a priest would now be performing a marriage which, while it would only involve a heterosexual couple in this case, did include in its remit the marriage of same sex couples. This led the Church to threaten to withdraw their priests from the solemnising of all civil marriages if the same sex marriage referendum was passed.<br /><br />Even worse, the Church feared that the inclusion of same sex unions in the civil definition of marriage might result in their members being obliged to solemnise such unions on behalf of the State. So the Government promised them an exemption and this is reflected in Head 7 of the proposed draft legislation above.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-q0xgDsbYO5I/VWbGSKhhXuI/AAAAAAAAHo4/Z_xRNjlGGBg/s1600/bert_ernie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-q0xgDsbYO5I/VWbGSKhhXuI/AAAAAAAAHo4/Z_xRNjlGGBg/s350/bert_ernie.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Bert & Ernie to top cake - click for larger image</i></div><br />However, the whole area of exceptions has the potential for opening up a can of worms as illustrated in a recent case in Northern Ireland where a <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/mar/26/what-is-belfasts-gay-cake-case" target="blank">bakery</a> refused, on religious grounds, to supply a cake with a pro same sex marriage slogan on it. The bakery has been found <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/may/19/northern-ireland-ashers-baking-company-guilty-discrimination-gay-marriage-cake" target="blank">guilty</a> of infringing equality legislation. This has made the church in the south very nervous as the solemnisers' exemption is simply being proposed in law and is not enshrined in the constitutional amendment.<br /><br />This all provoked me into wondering what other exceptions might need to be provided for. And what other, even tenuously related, issues might be lying around which could be tidied up by tagging them onto the proposed legislation. There is a tradition in Government of tagging even unrelated outstanding issues onto legislation which happens to be going through the Oireachtas. The Attorney General's people don't like this as it leads to very confusing legislation afterwards but it is not always their call. <br /><br />Now would be the time to sort all this out as the relevant legislation is about to be rushed through the Oireachtas before the summer break.<br /><br />Bakeries and other such product and service providers would be one area for consideration.<br /><a name="gerryadams"></a><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PR5QgiyvOiI/VWbGc8e9MXI/AAAAAAAAHpA/CDjwjq8iYSw/s1600/tom_ted.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PR5QgiyvOiI/VWbGc8e9MXI/AAAAAAAAHpA/CDjwjq8iYSw/s350/tom_ted.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Gerry's teddies - click for larger image</i></div><br />But what about Gerry Adams's same sex teddies. What if Gerry were to turn up before a solemniser with Tom in one hand and Ted in the other and ask that solemniser, politely one hopes, to perform a union. What then?<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N0Ca08qWhFI/VWbJbeHDuYI/AAAAAAAAHpM/3iUj2yvvfrU/s1600/four_poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N0Ca08qWhFI/VWbJbeHDuYI/AAAAAAAAHpM/3iUj2yvvfrU/s350/four_poster.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Modest double bed - click for larger image</i></div><br />Or, leaving same sex aside and just considering creature comfort, and possibly even a bit of heterosexual hanky panky, what about those old folk in Father Scully House who are currently denied <a href="http://www.westernpeople.ie/2015/05/28/catholic-housing-agency-bans-unmarried-residents-from-having-double-beds/" target="blank">double beds</a>?<br /><br />I'm sure the list is endless.<br /><br />http://photopol.blogspot.com/2015/05/head-7.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Póló)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19109033.post-8651924054467778896Sat, 23 May 2015 19:50:00 +00002015-05-26T21:28:33.923+01:00obituaryÁine<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TZ-P9pzVWJk/VWC_UrZAN3I/AAAAAAAAHnk/p8zXpR4N4_8/s1600/aine_rip.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TZ-P9pzVWJk/VWC_UrZAN3I/AAAAAAAAHnk/p8zXpR4N4_8/s350/aine_rip.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Áine Bean Uí Shúilleabháin<br />Click on any image for a larger version</i></div><br />Sadly, Áine died this morning.<br /><br />So I finally have to forgive her for her one indiscretion that I know of personally.<br /><br />In the early 1950s she revealed to me that there was no Santy Clause. I don't remember if I was devastated or if I'd had my suspicions, but it is an event that I still remember. Mind you, she must have been very convincing as I had received an actual <a href="http://photopol.com/gallery/santa.html" target="blank">letter</a> from Santy himself only a year or two previously.<br /><br />But then, you could always believe Áine. A feisty woman with a great sense of humour and a twinkle in her eye, but straight as a die.<br /><br />I got to know Áine when she was our next door neighbour at No. 41 Orwell Gardens in the early 1950s. We were staying with my granny then, and my mother and Áine became friends and, as I remember, attended the Rathmines Tech together for a period.<br /><br />The Ó Súilleabháins were the cause of me going to Coláiste Mhuire after my ignominious rejection by Synge Street.<br />. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GVA7K-UVzf0/VWDEtbGEsJI/AAAAAAAAHn0/EILyfLzVjw8/s1600/41_orwell_gardens.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GVA7K-UVzf0/VWDEtbGEsJI/AAAAAAAAHn0/EILyfLzVjw8/s350/41_orwell_gardens.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>No. 41 Orwell Gardens, as it is today (2011)</i></div><br />After we moved to Ballybrack, I still had contact with the family through Áine's husband <a href="http://photopol.blogspot.ie/2015/03/ty-bach.html#donnchadh" target="blank">Donnchadh</a>, who was General Secretary of Conradh na Gaeilge and Secretary of the Oireachtas (now Oireachtas na Gaeilge to distinguish it from the national parliament). Donnchadh died unexpectedly in 1989. I also maintained contact with her daughter Bríd through our common involvement with the <a href="http://photopol.com/bios/sound.html#brid" target="blank">theatre</a> and beyond.<br /><br />Sad to say, I did not keep up any regular contact with Áine, all my own fault, though I did meet her a few years back and she was in fighting form.<br /><br />She was 96.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mrUcOEL4tnk/VWTVWqEXNiI/AAAAAAAAHoY/bPi-RwArSo4/s1600/holy_family_whitehall_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mrUcOEL4tnk/VWTVWqEXNiI/AAAAAAAAHoY/bPi-RwArSo4/s350/holy_family_whitehall_1.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Church of the Holy Child, Whitehall</i></div><br />Sympathies to Bríd, Gerry and family.<br /><br />May she rest in peace.<br /><br />http://photopol.blogspot.com/2015/05/aine.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Póló)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19109033.post-4512699500253473083Sat, 16 May 2015 23:01:00 +00002015-05-17T09:48:04.142+01:00Where?Where is it ? No. 37<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Qm-XJ1fwunI/VVfLGSZY0fI/AAAAAAAAHmw/VpCNdIdWWyw/s1600/where37.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Qm-XJ1fwunI/VVfLGSZY0fI/AAAAAAAAHmw/VpCNdIdWWyw/s350/where37.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Click image for a larger version</i></div><br />To see all the quiz items click on the "Where?" tag below.<br /><br />To see all the unsolved quiz items click on the "unsolved" tag below.<br /><br /><center><i><b>Update - almost immediately</b></i></center><br />Damn him. He's done it again. Felix Larkin gets the prize. The cheque is in the post.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CZa7DOZbppQ/VVhRoe3miKI/AAAAAAAAHnE/0OxUYdQubys/s1600/felix_where_37.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CZa7DOZbppQ/VVhRoe3miKI/AAAAAAAAHnE/0OxUYdQubys/s350/felix_where_37.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a></div><br />But I have solved the mystery. He is the only person who reads my blog and when I post one of these quiz items he races out of the house and walk the streets of Dublin till he finds the answer.<br /><br />Well done Felix.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MYeln1Qn37o/VVhVKV1n7aI/AAAAAAAAHnQ/_3Ks3hnUr0o/s1600/where37_google.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MYeln1Qn37o/VVhVKV1n7aI/AAAAAAAAHnQ/_3Ks3hnUr0o/s400/where37_google.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Google Street View. Shadow is of Pepperpot Church</i></div><br />http://photopol.blogspot.com/2015/05/where-is-it-no-37.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Póló)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19109033.post-5540436580616974936Sat, 16 May 2015 19:47:00 +00002015-05-17T16:19:25.917+01:00DonaghmedeExhibitionMichael EdwardsphotographyMichael Edwards 2015<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eT9ah7kW0wo/VVeZzxzPzoI/AAAAAAAAHmM/_b81q5MqQVE/s1600/michael_edwards_exhibit_2015_4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eT9ah7kW0wo/VVeZzxzPzoI/AAAAAAAAHmM/_b81q5MqQVE/s350/michael_edwards_exhibit_2015_4.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Click any image for a larger version</i></div><br />Michael Edwards has done it again. And this time the exhibition in the Donaghmede Shopping Centre has a slight change of style. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4o8RHm-CcHU/VVeZz4OJlTI/AAAAAAAAHmI/DhwSmx4ixTs/s1600/michael_edwards_exhibit_2015_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4o8RHm-CcHU/VVeZz4OJlTI/AAAAAAAAHmI/DhwSmx4ixTs/s350/michael_edwards_exhibit_2015_2.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a></div><br />This year we have a series of exhibitions each from a different photo club. Currently on display are photos from St. Benedict's club in Kilbarrack. The standard is very high and there are some really fabulous shots.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GjJtQBWVs3Y/VVeZz5DjsxI/AAAAAAAAHmQ/8oiqNjRCIds/s1600/michael_edwards_exhibit_2015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GjJtQBWVs3Y/VVeZz5DjsxI/AAAAAAAAHmQ/8oiqNjRCIds/s350/michael_edwards_exhibit_2015.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a></div><br />The scheme works as follows. The studio invited 6 camera groups to exhibit for 4 weeks each. The public will view and vote for 10 out of each group. At the end they will exhibit the top ten from each group and these will be judged for The Michael Edwards Trophy 2015 and finalists 1 to 10.<br /><br />The exhibition is run in association with the shopping centre and sponsored by Dublin City Council, who, incidentally, are doing great work promoting culture all round the city and right through the year.<br /><br />So, if you're in the area, do drop in, checkout these great photos and leave your vote.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4DnlpWX6J1w/VVeZ00_ar6I/AAAAAAAAHmg/UIENzOMCBwI/s1600/michael_edwards_exhibit_2015_5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4DnlpWX6J1w/VVeZ00_ar6I/AAAAAAAAHmg/UIENzOMCBwI/s350/michael_edwards_exhibit_2015_5.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a></div><br />http://photopol.blogspot.com/2015/05/michael-edwards-2015.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Póló)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19109033.post-2673178190146192638Sun, 10 May 2015 09:53:00 +00002015-05-11T08:56:55.180+01:00Liberation Day<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Fnf_laWbzDc/VU8mtOODn3I/AAAAAAAAHl0/Cskn46CYS60/s1600/jersey_flag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Fnf_laWbzDc/VU8mtOODn3I/AAAAAAAAHl0/Cskn46CYS60/s350/jersey_flag.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>HAPPY LIBERATION DAY<br />Click any image for a larger version</i></div><br />Yesterday, 9th May, was Liberation Day in the Channel Islands. This is when islanders celebrate the end of the Nazi occupation in 1945. The islands were unique in being the only part of the "British Isles" to have been occupied by the Nazis during WWII. The occupation had its brutal elements and the Nazis turned the islands, and Jersey in particular, into a huge fortress with massive surface and underground defences, mostly built by very badly treated POWs.<br /><br />So the people of Jersey, the island with which I am most familiar, had much to celebrate on this day in each year following the end of WWII. This year was special as the 70th anniversary and it was seen as marking perhaps the end of those celebrations in which aging survivors of the occupation could take part in any numbers.<br /><br />So I tweeted my friends in Jersey a happy Liberation Day and I meant it. What follows refers to Jersey alone.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--q8x4rgv7kI/VU8U5YNof9I/AAAAAAAAHk8/pxGYFSXt9kM/s1600/herr_bailhache_liberation_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--q8x4rgv7kI/VU8U5YNof9I/AAAAAAAAHk8/pxGYFSXt9kM/s350/herr_bailhache_liberation_2.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>UNFINISHED BUSINESS</i></div><br />It seemed a good day, without hopefully spoiling the party, to recall some unfinished business left over from the liberation. There was an opportunity then to revamp the whole system and also free the islands, and Jersey in particular, from a much more embedded occupation dating from previous centuries.<br /><br />The island is a Crown Dependency, which means it is directly governed by the Queen who appoints its principal officers. It has appropriated much of the nomenclature of a modern democracy but its structures remain essentially feudal. Asserting one's human rights under the present system is somewhat haphazard in its results and can depend very much on the proximity of one's association with the ruling clique.<br /><br />The montage above is of Philip Bailhache, the more prominent of the Bailhache brothers, both of whom have held most of the island's major offices over recent decades. Philip, a former Bailiff and currently Senator and Foreign Minister, is seen as the puppetmaster though it is clear that there are others pulling his strings.<br /><br />His most recent contribution to good governance on the island was to try and sabotage the current inquiry into decades of child abuse and cover-up, an area in which he is seriously conflicted himself.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jbExN2fMMhg/VU8VAnpZVdI/AAAAAAAAHlE/ol-qcSvP8Io/s1600/william_bailhache_liberation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jbExN2fMMhg/VU8VAnpZVdI/AAAAAAAAHlE/ol-qcSvP8Io/s350/william_bailhache_liberation.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>REVOLVING DOORS</i></div><br />This is Philip's brother William. Currently Bailiff, he was previously Attorney General during a period when many prosecutions of alleged child abusers were either dropped or refused. His period in office at that time will hopefully come up for review in the course of the current inquiry into child abuse on the island.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3Q6N72CnAJo/VU8VHq_AmxI/AAAAAAAAHlM/pkvMJMb-lO8/s1600/mike_bowron_liberation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3Q6N72CnAJo/VU8VHq_AmxI/AAAAAAAAHlM/pkvMJMb-lO8/s350/mike_bowron_liberation.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br />ONE MIKE THAT WILL NOT BE TURNED OFF TODAY</div><br />The policing function on the island is complex. Each of the twelve island parishes has its own police force and it is only in more recent times that an all-island force has been developed to any significant degree. There are serious contraints on the all-island force, including political ones, and recent years have seen these exercised aggressively by the establishment when it illegaly sacked the police chief and smeared the senior investigating officer as their inquiries into earlier child abuse were getting too close to the bone.<br /><br />A more compliant central policing régime was then recruited, the current head of which is Mike Bowron (above), renowned for chatting to ordinary people in the street and ignoring them when they come as supplicants to his office. The wide discretion available to the policing function in Jersey (there is no separate independent prosecution function) means that whether you are charged with an offence or not frequently depends on who you are.<br /><br />The reference in the caption is to Philip Bailhache, then Bailiff and Speaker in the States (Parliament), turning off the microphone of the then Health Minister, Stuart Syvret, as he tried to raise the question of child abuse in the House on an earlier Liberation Day.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IVLAW2kdG0I/VU8VOkyqc-I/AAAAAAAAHlU/kkMIk53--lU/s1600/emma_martins_liberation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IVLAW2kdG0I/VU8VOkyqc-I/AAAAAAAAHlU/kkMIk53--lU/s350/emma_martins_liberation.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>PROTECTING MORE THAN DATA</i></div><br />Emma Martins is the Data Protection Commissioner. Her principal contribution to the island to date seems to have been (i) to support the "Gang of Four" in their effort to have Stuart Syvret brought before the courts (another partial institution) for publishing information which was clearly in the public interest and (ii) to have Stuart's blog taken down from Blogger/Google on spurious legal grounds.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dtHk7bWe8E4/VU8VZwu_XvI/AAAAAAAAHlc/LGAoYp8SRmU/s1600/john_nettles_liberation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dtHk7bWe8E4/VU8VZwu_XvI/AAAAAAAAHlc/LGAoYp8SRmU/s350/john_nettles_liberation.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>HAUT DE LA GARENNE - a misdemeanor, move on</i></div><br />It would be unfair to leave out Emma's daddy, John Nettles aka Bergerac, whose BBC TV series was set in the island and was shooting footage at Haut de la Garenne (the notorious centre of child abuse) while there were still children resident on the premises. BBC have recently called off a rerun of the series in the face of public protest. In recent times Nettles has attempted to downplay the significance of the centre. I really couldn't leave him out as Emma has declared that she frequently takes her daddy's advice.<br /><br />The above are most of the tweets I tweeted yesterday for Liberation Day.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bO3NPsQF6m4/VU8VznRmI0I/AAAAAAAAHlk/TalW-daPctU/s1600/stuart_bars.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bO3NPsQF6m4/VU8VznRmI0I/AAAAAAAAHlk/TalW-daPctU/s350/stuart_bars.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a></div><br />I couldn't finish, however, without recalling this event from the obverse of the liberation coin. Arising directly from his principled conflict with this deficient system of administration and justice, Stuart Syvret has already done a few stints of porridge and may yet come to do more.<br /><br />So let us wish a happy <i>LIBERATION PHASE 2</i> to the people of this beautiful island.<br /><br /><i>Note: you can see all the tweets <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=from%3Airlpol%20%22%23liberationday%22&src=typd" target="blank">here</a>. You may have to click "Show photo" to see individual images.</i><br /><br />http://photopol.blogspot.com/2015/05/liberation-day.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Póló)9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19109033.post-6862051629913872324Wed, 06 May 2015 22:30:00 +00002015-05-07T00:49:07.288+01:00Buck HouseCastle LeslieDuke of ConnaughtMark Leslie.Noel DorrswordtiaraPrince Arthur's Sword<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9kBOhPr55mk/VUqXD24_jAI/AAAAAAAAHkI/DATNtairGGs/s1600/leslie_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9kBOhPr55mk/VUqXD24_jAI/AAAAAAAAHkI/DATNtairGGs/s350/leslie_2.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>The Calm before the Storm<br />Click any image for a larger version</i></div><br />The National Library's lecture theatre at about a quarter to one today (6/5/2015). Very much the calm before the storm. The room started filling up and at about five past one the storm broke.<br /><br />Mark Leslie, second in succession to the Leslie Baronetcy currently held by his uncle Jack, launched us into his family's tempestuous history, peppered with fascinating stories and all the while way up the social ladder.<br /><br />It all revolved around the family home, <a href="http://www.castleleslie.com/index.html" target="blank">Castle Leslie</a> in Glaslough Co. Monaghan, now a very high class hotel and equestrian centre.<br /><br />The title of Mark's talk was "<i>Norman Leslie and the Sword of Prince Arthur</i>". Norman was Mark's grand-uncle who had a very colourful career in the British Army, so much so that he was awarded a specially inscribed sword by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Arthur,_Duke_of_Connaught_and_Strathearn" target="blank">Prince Arthur</a>, first Duke of Connaught. <br /><br />Norman died at the Western Front in 1914 while leading his men in a charge and holding the sword aloft as befitted an officer. While his body was subsequently located and buried, the sword could not be found. <br /><br />Many years later, a Belgian farmer, ploughing his field, unearthed the sword and seeing the inscription returned it to the War Office who returned it to the Duke of Connaught, who in turn returned it to the family. It is a treasured heirloom which now surfaces on important family occasions.<br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8No03Qg2MKo/VUqXD3e4x3I/AAAAAAAAHkM/BEzChXaYMbM/s1600/leslie_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8No03Qg2MKo/VUqXD3e4x3I/AAAAAAAAHkM/BEzChXaYMbM/s350/leslie_1.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Mark Leslie launching his talk</i></div><br />So that explains the title of the talk. Norman had also been probably the last British Army soldier to engage in an officially approved duel. That arose out of his womanising and he was lucky to survive it.<br /><br />We heard about Mark's antecedents, including a bishop who defied Cromwell, and in more modern times, a relation who got away with wearing a tiara which was bigger than the Queen's at a royal reception in Buck House.<br /><br />If I were to recount the many other great stories I'd be here all night so I'll just say that this was one of the, if not the, best talks I've ever been at, and if it ever comes to a location near you in the future make sure not to miss it. <br /><br />And if it doesn't and is being given in a faraway place, make sure you travel to it. <br /><br />You won't regret it.<br /><br />http://photopol.blogspot.com/2015/05/prince-arthurs-sword.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Póló)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19109033.post-6934087642121227375Sat, 02 May 2015 14:42:00 +00002015-05-02T21:00:39.965+01:00ConfirmationData ProtectionFirst Holy Communionphotographyroman catholic churchPhotographing Children<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cslFvSt6U2Y/VUS8pFtIbnI/AAAAAAAAHjo/DA7K8Q3U1tk/s1600/child_photo_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cslFvSt6U2Y/VUS8pFtIbnI/AAAAAAAAHjo/DA7K8Q3U1tk/s350/child_photo_1.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Click on any image for a larger version</i></div><br />A recent trip to TESCO found this man in the foyer. He was offering photos in period costumes for children and families. I thought it was a great idea and asked him if he'd mind me photographing him and his stand for a blog post. No problem.<br /><br />So I took the photo above. I was immediately approached by a security man who told me photos were not allowed in the foyer. I explained that the man was quite happy having his photo taken. Made no difference. Photos were not allowed in the foyer. People might not want their photo taken.<br /><br />This gave rise to a maelstrom of speculation in my head. Might I have incidentally included a couple who were having a clandestine affair. Might someone have pulled a sickie and gone on a shopping expedition. Might some proud Southsider fear being seen on the Northside. The possibilities were endless. <br /><br />Anyway, I put away the camera (with its precious photo) and took a shot of the other side of the stand, with the rack of period clothes, on my way out. Where was the security man then? Just between ourselves, he's half way down the foyer behind the dresses. As obscured from me as I from him. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ml4_XtTMVTg/VUS8pN13aTI/AAAAAAAAHjk/pITMy0hb0qg/s1600/child_photo_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ml4_XtTMVTg/VUS8pN13aTI/AAAAAAAAHjk/pITMy0hb0qg/s350/child_photo_2.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a></div><br />I am not against data protection, but really, when it's carried this far it's just plain nuts.<br /><br />I was in my local village one day a good while ago when I spotted a procession of kids passing through. On closer inspection they had horror masks and painted faces and a variety of spooky costumes. It was apparently a school spookwalk for charity. I thought it would be nice to blog a photo of such an interesting happening and took out my camera. This was immediately spotted by the kids who started playing up to it. All good humoured. I even gave my card to one of teachers and said I was thinking of blogging a photo.<br /><br />Imagine my surprise and horror when I subsequently got a phone call from the school principal, who turned out to be as embarrassed as I was, but "would I please not use the photos". Apparently the Principal would have had to get releases signed by all the parents and that would be another big task on top of the already overloaded day job. I had no problem laying off the blog post and sent copies of the photos to the Principal for use in the school.<br /><br />But I really thought it was all going a bit far and that it was such a pity that the great sense of fun, innocence, enthusiasm and happiness of these kids was being overshadowed by such an all-pervasive sense of fear on the part of the adults. Anyway, not my call.<br /><br />It is a bit unnerving though to think that I and all those around me are walking around inside a cocoon of copyright. Maybe I should stop saying hello to people in the street in case I inadvertently burst their cocoon.<br /><br />Then I read in today's paper about new RC Church rules on parents taking photos of their children on church property during Confirmation. Worth your while to read the <a href="http://www.independent.ie/opinion/comment/have-we-lost-sight-of-the-bigger-picture-on-child-protection-31189362.html" target="blank">piece</a>. Not only do the restrictions appear unnecessary, they are positively cruel in this digital day and age. It is one thing to ask people not to disrupt or distract from the ceremony when taking photos, but another to prohibit them altogether.<br /><br />Anyway, I'm making my personal protest below in visual form. This is my first holy communion day in 1951. So there.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uC1k3yK6jNo/VUS8pMNCnxI/AAAAAAAAHjw/B0z7VyZWHEM/s1600/me_communion_168.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uC1k3yK6jNo/VUS8pMNCnxI/AAAAAAAAHjw/B0z7VyZWHEM/s350/me_communion_168.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a></div><br />http://photopol.blogspot.com/2015/05/photographing-children.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Póló)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19109033.post-5709933810906076400Sun, 26 Apr 2015 12:45:00 +00002015-04-27T09:27:27.684+01:00jerseyHairline Cracks<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gCn2rAy2qLw/VTvAmq9KiaI/AAAAAAAAHg0/Zl_uoCE6ht4/s1600/frances_oldham_5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gCn2rAy2qLw/VTvAmq9KiaI/AAAAAAAAHg0/Zl_uoCE6ht4/s350/frances_oldham_5.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Frances Oldham, Chair of child sex abuse Inquiry, <br />and the Victoria College £10 note<br />Click any image for a larger version</i></div><br />It is nearly a year now since I did a rundown post on the situation in Jersey (CI). This is not because nothing has been happening there. There has been a lot of developments. But my general Jersey posts have been more by way of a background introduction to the scene there and the Jersey Bloggers have been doing a great job keeping the pressure on and reporting to the world at large.<br /><br />For convenience I had copied my Jersey posts to a separate blog "<a href="http://introducingjersey.blogspot.ie/" target="blank">Introducing Jersey</a>" and will do the same with this one. That blog also lists the blogs I follow to keep up with current developments in Jersey.<br /><br /><b>The Inquiry</b><br /><br />Probably the most significant development in the last year has been the work of the <a href="http://www.jerseycareinquiry.org/" target="blank">inquiry</a> into institutional child sex abuse. The inquiry has heard evidence about abuse from survivors and is now moving into its second phase where it will hear from those who were in varying degrees responsible for the running of the institutions being highlighted. The children's home at Haut de la Garenne has achieved worldwide notoriety for the extreme abuse carried out there and for the insensitivity of the BBC in filming the series Bergerac there while there were still children resident on the premises. Another institution was Victoria College, illustrated on the Jersey £10 note above. The addition of the cameo of Frances Oldham is my own doing.<br /><br />Among those who genuinely want to see a full and open inquiry, opinion is sharply divided about the current set up. On the one hand this is the only show in town and some are anxious to make the maximum use of it to get closure for survivors by having them testify, and to show up the perpetrators of abuse and cover up by exposing them to full public view.<br /><br />However, there are serious reservations in some quarters about the structure of the inquiry, the closeness of its ties to the Jersey and UK establishments, and the sometimes sloppy way in which it has set about its business. These are <a href="http://freespeechoffshore.nl/stuartsyvretblog/resign-jerseys-child-abuse-public-inquiry/" target="blank">articulated</a> by former Health Minister, political prisoner and current blogger, Stuart Syvret.<br /><br />Funding for the inquiry has also been controversial as costs (mainly legal costs) have escalated from the £6 million originally envisaged to something in the region of a final expected cost of £20 million at present. There is no guarantee that the final bill will not exceed this amount. Some have been using the escalating cost, forecasting a final outcome of £50 million or more, in an attempt to stop the inquiry in its tracks. So far, they have been unsuccessful and the States (Jersey Parliament) has recently supported the Chief Minister's proposal for an extra £13 million by a large majority, although most of the "cabinet" seem to have voted against. Nevertheless, people are generally uneasy about the escalating costs and stricter ongoing monitoring arrangements are being put in place in an attempt to control them. It does not help that the money is going to well paid lawyers, some of whose chambers are well connected with the establishment.<br /><br />The current inquiry poses a serious dilemma for someone like Stuart Syvret. He would be a key witness by virtue of: his previous role as Health Minister responsible for children's services; his role as a whistleblower which the establishment has gone to great lengths to suppress (by imprisoning him and having his original blog taken down); his role as a public representative in whom many of the survivors have confided and to whom they have provided evidence over the last 7 years or so; and his role as a fearless blogger showing up the rottenness of the establishment. But in cooperating with the inquiry he would be leaving himself open to legal retaliation unless the inquiry were to give him some form of unconditional immunity. As it stands they won't even finance some initial legal advice for him, and, since the establishment have reduced him to social welfare, he is hardly in a position to pay for this himself.<br /><br />If he doesn't play ball, the inquiry may lack vital evidence and so come to a weaker conclusion. If he does, they may still come to a weak conclusion and by implication devalue his contribution which might otherwise be valuable in any follow up.<br /><br />As of now, he seems to have decided not to participate. He says this is a personal decision and he is not advising others one way or the other.<br /><br />There is a parallel controversy going on over whether Jersey should be covered by the (hopefully) upcoming British inquiry into child sex abuse and whether the current Jersey inquiry should be merged into it. The current fragmentation of British inquiries (Britain, Northern Ireland, Jersey) does not make sense given that both victims and perpetrators moved freely across these territories and that these movements contributed to the guilty getting away with it for so long.<br /><br /><b>The Parapet</b> <br /><br />It is not an easy decision to stick your head above the parapet in Jersey, any more than it was in Gallipoli or on the Somme. You are in serious danger of having it blown off.<br /><br />I mentioned <a href="http://freespeechoffshore.nl/stuartsyvretblog/" target="blank">Stuart Syvret</a> above and I have covered the fate of Police Chief Graham Power and Senior Investigating Officer Lenny Harper in earlier posts. <br /><br />The last year has seen the bankrupting of former members of the Jersey parliament, Trevor and Shona Pitman. This resulted from them losing a legal action over a cartoon that they considered defamatory and the authorities opting for the severest available penalty when they could not afford the legal costs. My own gut feeling is that they were set up with the cartoon and that the authorities were only too happy to opt for the most severe penalty which, while it was not to the financial advantage of those who won the case, did effectively deprive the Pitmans of their parliamentary roles.<br /><br /><a href="http://ricosorda.blogspot.ie/" target="blank">Rico Sorda</a> started blogging as an investigative reporter some years ago and has done sterling work. He has, however, incurred the wrath of the resident public nuisance, and he and his wife have been subject to death threats and a vicious campaign against her in her place of work.<br /><br /><a href="http://voiceforchildren.blogspot.ie/" target="blank">Neil McMurray</a> and <a href="http://bobhilljersey.blogspot.ie/" target="blank">Bob Hill</a> have continued attempting to hold the authorities to account with very solid and authoritative blog posts, and I'll bet they have not been free of retaliation, though they have not advertised it.<br /><br /><b>The Craven Media</b><br /><br />Both the BBC and the Jersey Evening Post have continued their craven support of the establishment. I have the impression that they are too embedded to even think of doing otherwise. There have been some slight cosmetic changes but nothing to rock the boat. <br /><br />The highlight of the Post's existence must surely have been during the Nazi occupation when everyone read it and its copy carried a higher authority. I sort of had a soft spot for the Post since they published my letters in 1961 and criticised my online Nazi references last year, but we mustn't allow this personal affection to cloud our judgement. <br /><br />I had wondered over the years how a local branch of the much respected BBC could be so captured by a corrupt establishment. Post Savile revelations from HQ show that it was very much in the house style. Some years ago BBC Jersey published an "official" report which purported to criticise the then Chief of Police who had been making a nuisance of himself by having the temerity to support the exposure of child sex abuse and of the ensuing cover up. BBC has had the former Chief's response to its accusations in its possession for a few years now but <a href="https://twitter.com/TheVoiceJersey/status/591696089234931714" target="blank">refused</a> to either publish it or even refer to its contents.<br /><br />I can't really comment on Channel TV, or ITV Jersey, or whatever it is called, as I don't know much about it apart from it having got a prize a while back for a scissors and paste job which passed for investigative reporting. <br /><br /><b>Alternative Media</b><br /><br />I may be over optimistic but I have the impression that, in more recent times, the blogs have been steadily increasing their readership, both in Jersey and beyond, and that they are becoming the staple diet of those seeking some balance and sense of reality in their sources of news and information. I sincerely hope this is the case as the bloggers are not only doing trojan work but are taking serious risks in fighting corruption in such a small and feudal based community.<br /><br />The Voice for Children blog has a solid record in general reporting but particularly in its video interviews. Its recent <a href="http://voiceforchildren.blogspot.ie/2015/03/chief-minister-ian-gorst-interview.html" target="blank">interview</a> with Chief Minister Gorst was ground breaking and a welcome recognition by some element of the establishment of the serious role played by bloggers in the unfolding story of the island. MSM eat your hearts out.<br /><br /><b>Election</b><br /><br />There was an election to the Jersey parliament late last year but it really hasn't changed anything much. It's mostly a case of the same old compliant faces with the same little merry-go-round at the top.<br /><br />Jersey does not have a party system. People are elected (often unopposed) on an individual basis and this is a system that seems to suit the establishment very well thank you. Recently, an effort has been made to inaugurate a party system with the establishment of a new party, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ReformJersey" target="blank">Reform Jersey</a>, with Deputy <a href="http://sammezec.blogspot.ie/" target="blank">Sam Mézec</a> as its chairman, but so far its impact has been very limited. Still it is a step in the right direction. Deputy <a href="http://mtadier.blogspot.ie/" target="blank">Montford Tadier</a>, another of the good guys, is also a member of Reform, as is Deputy Geoff Southern. Outside the party, but very much attempting to hold the authorities to account is Deputy <a href="http://ricosorda.blogspot.ie/2014/02/the-failing-jersey-evening-post-try-and.html" target="blank">Mike Higgins</a>.<br /><br />Meanwhile, the establishment have attempted to consolidate their hold on Government by instituting a system of Cabinet co-responsibility in tandem with an increase in the Chief Minister's power to appoint and fire ministers without reference to parliament.<br /><br />On the debit side too (I think) is the return to parliament of Deputy <a href="http://photopol.com/pics/andrew_lewis_website_jsy2014.jpg" target="blank">Andrew Lewis</a>, who, as Home Affairs Minister, was implicated in the illegal suspension of the then Police Chief, Graham Power. Deputy Lewis has a lot of questions to answer. Perhaps his re-election will make this self-proclaimed integrity-promoting candidate more answerable to parliament and the public. Who knows? One lives in hope.<br /><br /><b>Failing Entity?</b><br /><br />Jersey has long been a rich place even if not all those living there are rich. In the real economy its exports were agriculture and tourism. But the big money for the few has been in the financial sector (tax haven). The financial sector globally is being tightened up and, as Stuart Syvret has argued, not enough attention has been paid to developing the real economy. One of the results is now an emerging public finance deficit which was denied before the last election but is now admitted.<br /><br />Apparently, there is no Plan B. So the island may be in for a rough ride in the future.<br /><br /><b>Those Cracks</b><br /><br />And finally, the cracks. <br /><br />The power elite have run Jersey very comfortably since the end of the Occupation. They remained relatively untroubled by the widespread child sex abuse which they have succeeded in covering up. They have been helped by a public who were either unaware of, or uninterested in, the corruption at the heart of the system. However, it is getting harder now to ignore what is going on and the bloggers are playing a large part in shedding light on the malfeasance.<br /><br />Philip Bailhache has long been seen as one of the puppeteers and a man with many questions to answer. Up to recently he has managed to divert any efforts to hold him to account. Some years ago he was seen reading confidential official documents to which he should not have had access. He traduced the witnesses but finally had to back down, sort of. More recently he appears to have had direct or indirect access to a confidential document which is part of the current child sex abuse inquiry and he, or someone on his behalf, has been in apparently inappropriate contact with the chair of that supposedly independent inquiry. He unsuccessfully attempted to stop the inquiry in its tracks just as it was getting to the stage of calling in those with responsibility for child care in the past. He had been a Governor of Victoria College when abuse was taking place there.<br /><br />Last year, former Deputy Shona Pitman was run down by a car which crashed a red light. The police have been negligent in following up this incident and have been obstructive in providing Shona with documentation to which she was entitled, namely a copy of her own statement and insurance details for the driver of the car. The latter, I assume, in an attempt to obscure the identity of the driver. Following Shona's <a href="http://voiceforchildren.blogspot.ie/2015/04/former-jersey-opposition-politician-and.html" target="blank">interview</a> with Voice for Children, and further comments from her on that blog, insurance details were finally provided and it appears the identity of the driver is not without interest. This narrative is now in the public domain. Without the bloggers it would presumably have remained hidden as have such incidents in the past.<br /><br />These are hairline cracks in the system, but in a period when the inquiry is in full swing, and when part of its terms of reference are to flush out political interference in the justice system, the fireworks may be about to commence.<br /><br /><b>Satire</b><br /><br />It is said that you are not fully mature if you can't laugh at yourself. So let's end on an uplifting note.<br /><br />Voice for Jersey has recently been giving airtime to <a href="http://voiceforchildren.blogspot.ie/2015/04/a-guest-posting-from-lord-reginald.html" target="blank">Lord Reginald Hamilton Rawley Tooting-Jones III </a> who has been taking some potshots at the system.<br /><br />And Reform Jersey, the only actual political party so far, have done a pictorial satirical analysis (below) of the present shadow party system on the island. To understand this fully you would need to have some familiarity with the <a href="http://www.gov.je/Government/HowGovernmentWorks/Elections/Pages/SenatorsDeputiesConstables.aspx" target="blank">existing make up</a> of the parliament which is quite complex and strongly biased in favour of the status quo.<br /><br />Stay tuned.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JJlAbwgATiQ/VTzF31Cf5OI/AAAAAAAAHhw/0m9vQVBS_SE/s1600/reform_parties.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JJlAbwgATiQ/VTzF31Cf5OI/AAAAAAAAHhw/0m9vQVBS_SE/s350/reform_parties.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>A shadow party analysis of the current parliament<br />Thanks to Reform Jersey<br />Click image for larger version</i></div><br />http://photopol.blogspot.com/2015/04/hairline-cracks.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Póló)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19109033.post-2909608255929830648Thu, 23 Apr 2015 21:36:00 +00002015-04-23T22:36:04.814+01:00curvygorgeousladytemptedGorgeous Curvy Lady<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Kw5EYzzG-BU/VTljkr9-vsI/AAAAAAAAHgY/pimG0FDCBIo/s1600/tempted_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Kw5EYzzG-BU/VTljkr9-vsI/AAAAAAAAHgY/pimG0FDCBIo/s350/tempted_1.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Click image for a larger version</i></div><br />Could this be you? The details are on the poster (above). The shop is <i>Tempted</i> in Raheny, Dublin 5 (below).<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-A-moVv9FcMg/VTljkykEufI/AAAAAAAAHgc/0cXdp6PXPEc/s1600/tempted_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-A-moVv9FcMg/VTljkykEufI/AAAAAAAAHgc/0cXdp6PXPEc/s350/tempted_2.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a></div><br />http://photopol.blogspot.com/2015/04/gorgeous-curvy-lady.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Póló)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19109033.post-2720336387993299356Wed, 22 Apr 2015 22:02:00 +00002015-04-23T19:31:13.934+01:00coachDublin City CouncilLord MayorWalk and TalkThe Lord Mayor's Coach<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AUQFWZTi-wI/VTf-cBdGdVI/AAAAAAAAHdI/fHFtQd4kC-I/s1600/coach_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AUQFWZTi-wI/VTf-cBdGdVI/AAAAAAAAHdI/fHFtQd4kC-I/s350/coach_01.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>The front of the coach<br />Click on any image for a larger version</i></div><br />There I was in the old Council Chamber in City Hall, waiting for the start of a lunchtime talk on the digitisation of the UCD Folklore Archive, when Greg Young invited me to join him after the talk to check out the <a href="http://www.dublincity.ie/main-menu-your-council-lord-mayor-history/lord-mayors-coach" target="blank">Lord Mayor's Coach</a>. His walking group had lined up an appointment to be shown the coach which is stored at the Council's depot in Ringsend.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jRni6KEkx9k/VTgCLjluDOI/AAAAAAAAHfU/ZfI6fsNGvW8/s1600/coach_20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jRni6KEkx9k/VTgCLjluDOI/AAAAAAAAHfU/ZfI6fsNGvW8/s350/coach_20.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Mick the Coach</i></div><br />So, after two bus journeys and a long walk, we hit the waterworks just as the official walk were approaching from the other direction. We joined up and went to meet Mick Kinahan who was going to show us the coach and tell us all about it.<br /><br />Mick is now retired, but up to recently he was, among other things, in charge of the coach, and, more than that, he was responsible for getting the coach back to its present condition. Apparently, there were bits of it all over the place and the coach still needs another small piece to make the job complete.<br /><br />It is lovingly, and expensively, looked after and stored in a special temperature controlled room at the depot. A far cry from the impression given in this piece of <a href=" http://www.herald.ie/news/lord-mayors-priceless-coach-kept-at-sewage-plant-30120134.html" target="blank">shite reporting</a> last year.<br /><br />The coach was originally drawn by six horses with a postillion (rider-driver) on the leading pair and a coachman seated at the front of the coach. These days it is drawn by only two horses.<br /><br />I'll try and keep the text relatively short for the rest of this post and hope you enjoy the pictures. I can't show you a side view of the coach as its storage space is quite confined, but you can check it out in the first link above.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lGcKUSaXW7c/VTf-kV5oUSI/AAAAAAAAHdQ/MI-qP9mvnk8/s1600/coach_05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lGcKUSaXW7c/VTf-kV5oUSI/AAAAAAAAHdQ/MI-qP9mvnk8/s350/coach_05.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a></div><br />There is an almost life size carving at each of the four corners of the coach. The one above is Justice, but for some reason her scales are folded on her knee. Perhaps they would bounce around too much when the coach is moving, or, like the statue at the entrance to Dublin Castle, there may be a deeper symbolism involved.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WGqpZyeE-GA/VTf-pdUxUzI/AAAAAAAAHdY/mgYWPtbKGqU/s1600/coach_07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WGqpZyeE-GA/VTf-pdUxUzI/AAAAAAAAHdY/mgYWPtbKGqU/s350/coach_07.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a></div><br />This lady has the horn of plenty (cornucopia) and, unlike the other three, has one breast exposed.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-b5hOdcGCXQA/VTf-wqnLWuI/AAAAAAAAHdg/GnnFQ-SQtN0/s1600/coach_09.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-b5hOdcGCXQA/VTf-wqnLWuI/AAAAAAAAHdg/GnnFQ-SQtN0/s350/coach_09.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a></div><br />Her ladyship has a different horn, packed with dosh to overflowing. There appear to be some very real coins there below the gilt, but that's another story.<br /><!-- <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aOOw_0gcIvs/VTf-2__H8uI/AAAAAAAAHdo/V3ZQxXTYgzk/s1600/coach_10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aOOw_0gcIvs/VTf-2__H8uI/AAAAAAAAHdo/V3ZQxXTYgzk/s350/coach_10.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a></div>--><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bIg7j6c9Huw/VTf-9gQ8nYI/AAAAAAAAHdw/Yl1meS_AmHA/s1600/coach_11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bIg7j6c9Huw/VTf-9gQ8nYI/AAAAAAAAHdw/Yl1meS_AmHA/s350/coach_11.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a></div><br />The last of the four has her sword sheathed and also sports a lily or a sheaf or corn. Not quite swords into ploughshares but I'm sure that must be the sentiment.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VJ6ldvd-YFA/VTf_Q5RoZWI/AAAAAAAAHd4/cEAzOfurDyU/s1600/coach_03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VJ6ldvd-YFA/VTf_Q5RoZWI/AAAAAAAAHd4/cEAzOfurDyU/s350/coach_03.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a></div><br />Then there's all the stuff around the top. At the front, the keys of the city and a hat that I assume represents that worn by the mayor in days of yore.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QFUFxYG3P5Q/VTf_QjysF6I/AAAAAAAAHd8/bV3iAvu51fQ/s1600/coach_04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QFUFxYG3P5Q/VTf_QjysF6I/AAAAAAAAHd8/bV3iAvu51fQ/s350/coach_04.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a></div><br /><center>At the back, we have the folded scales of justice again.</center><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Qbq7e23HNV0/VTf_f8000wI/AAAAAAAAHeI/LKqViQoYaZs/s1600/coach_12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Qbq7e23HNV0/VTf_f8000wI/AAAAAAAAHeI/LKqViQoYaZs/s350/coach_12.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a></div><br />At each of the four corners we have an angel. Horrible looking creatures, but this seems to have been a fashion of the times. Cherubs abound, I've seen them on the Jersey mace and in paintings.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xR7x02_MECI/VTf_f-CbK_I/AAAAAAAAHeU/aYtmUJMom-s/s1600/coach_13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xR7x02_MECI/VTf_f-CbK_I/AAAAAAAAHeU/aYtmUJMom-s/s350/coach_13.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a></div><br />At the side, two more of them, with the city sword and mace along with the three flaming towers for Dublin and the harp for the nation as a whole.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x0g4_eQli3w/VTf_fxLwrvI/AAAAAAAAHeM/-jEt_7U6YsM/s1600/coach_14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x0g4_eQli3w/VTf_fxLwrvI/AAAAAAAAHeM/-jEt_7U6YsM/s350/coach_14.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a></div><br /><center>And a slightly more formal set of arms, mercifully angel-free.</center><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5jmNvPPw4uo/VTf_sI0NtGI/AAAAAAAAHeg/I2YVNUSsr_4/s1600/coach_06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5jmNvPPw4uo/VTf_sI0NtGI/AAAAAAAAHeg/I2YVNUSsr_4/s350/coach_06.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a></div><br />Mick explains the workings of the coach from the inside. He needs the window open to communicate, and, indeed, so would the Lord Mayor have, in order to hear the acclaim of his people and wave his hand out the window. They were all hises in those days.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wBfm6p3Y-Fg/VTgMTVDwGlI/AAAAAAAAHfk/a_xuWWgIaDA/s1600/coach_21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wBfm6p3Y-Fg/VTgMTVDwGlI/AAAAAAAAHfk/a_xuWWgIaDA/s400/coach_21.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a></div><br />However, if the natives (sorry, citizens) got stroppy and started throwing rotten eggs and tomatoes, or tried to open the door and pull out the mayor, he had the perfect defence. There is a window, like the old train windows with the strap, which he can pull up, and in so doing the outer door handle is disabled. You couldn't be up to those fellas.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RVmj2K0tok4/VTi8JDao0rI/AAAAAAAAHf4/vEz_2hfUiuM/s1600/coach_22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RVmj2K0tok4/VTi8JDao0rI/AAAAAAAAHf4/vEz_2hfUiuM/s350/coach_22.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a></div><br /><center>Each of the coach doors has a painting.</center><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dChRTIlaC-4/VTf_0H-WVAI/AAAAAAAAHeo/e3UQZDcqPZA/s1600/coach_15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dChRTIlaC-4/VTf_0H-WVAI/AAAAAAAAHeo/e3UQZDcqPZA/s350/coach_15.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a></div>The one above shows the statue of King Billy in College Green and the side of the then Irish Parliament building (now the Bank of Ireland)<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UkK51LLAsH0/VTf_0PpEZtI/AAAAAAAAHes/Dz21fC4aEdU/s1600/coach_16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UkK51LLAsH0/VTf_0PpEZtI/AAAAAAAAHes/Dz21fC4aEdU/s350/coach_16.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a></div><br />There is also a painting at the back of the coach. I'm not sure whether this portrays the welcoming of the king or the mayor but no doubt, it too is full of symbolism.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dsIA0PTWiDg/VTi9FA6oWLI/AAAAAAAAHgE/PdGjYI1l1T4/s1600/coach_23.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dsIA0PTWiDg/VTi9FA6oWLI/AAAAAAAAHgE/PdGjYI1l1T4/s350/coach_23.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a></div><br />The suspension is something else. The cabin is suspended, independently of the main chassis, by leaf springs and leather straps and it could almost sway in the wind it's so sensitive. I had the privilege of getting up inside the cabin and it is really something. I got a bit overcome, waving to my loyal supporters on the outside. They reciprocated with enthusiastic smiles and gestures of loyalty and gratitude. Not an egg or tomato in sight.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9_BPLz-foAE/VTgAIfyZJiI/AAAAAAAAHe4/5mLZj7GEoLs/s1600/coach_17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9_BPLz-foAE/VTgAIfyZJiI/AAAAAAAAHe4/5mLZj7GEoLs/s350/coach_17.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a></div><br />But back to symbolism, what is this snake doing in the inner suspension of the cabin? I thought St. Patrick sorted them out over a century earlier.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yZIX9GfOSwM/VTgAIR4kpUI/AAAAAAAAHe8/7w5FnqOpAHM/s1600/coach_18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yZIX9GfOSwM/VTgAIR4kpUI/AAAAAAAAHe8/7w5FnqOpAHM/s350/coach_18.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a></div><br />This, I think, is an Irish wolfhound in the outer cabin suspension. A native species at least.<br /><br />If you're curious about all this symbolism, I gather there's a guy doing a paper on it which will be published in the not too distant future. Can't wait myself.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-09KzjCwl2FM/VTgAIYPgdNI/AAAAAAAAHfA/vggpVoXlkNg/s1600/coach_19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-09KzjCwl2FM/VTgAIYPgdNI/AAAAAAAAHfA/vggpVoXlkNg/s350/coach_19.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a></div><br />The group of walkers and talkers who kindly invited me to share their visit. Greg is the one beside Mick.<br /><br />http://photopol.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-lord-mayors-coach.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Póló)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19109033.post-8091594402723500160Wed, 22 Apr 2015 07:11:00 +00002015-04-22T12:20:40.406+01:00Where?Where is it ? No. 36<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SjTnHKmqUKo/VTdIPhxW7TI/AAAAAAAAHcE/RT8Y75eSIew/s1600/where_36.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SjTnHKmqUKo/VTdIPhxW7TI/AAAAAAAAHcE/RT8Y75eSIew/s350/where_36.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Click image for a larger version</i></div><br /><br />And if you know, you might also add who?<br /><br />Answer in comments below please.<br /><br /><center><b>Update - almost immediately</b></center><br />It's only up and the solution is already on the front page of the <i>Freeman's Journal</i>. Would somebody tell Felix Larkin's mammy to keep him off the streets for a decade or two.<br /><br />Yes, he's done it again.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Fc-k9RIAmSU/VTeAmFD96VI/AAAAAAAAHco/Mg0lMlg3fTM/s1600/felix_tweet_where36.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Fc-k9RIAmSU/VTeAmFD96VI/AAAAAAAAHco/Mg0lMlg3fTM/s350/felix_tweet_where36.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a></div><br />I had a premonition when I put it up that he'd know it, but thought he might just have kept his head down in that hallowed hall.<br /><br />Anyway, here it is in context.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CfE9NQQl4-0/VTeBwb_AdgI/AAAAAAAAHc0/DVLSaY05_kQ/s1600/city_hall_oconnell_davis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CfE9NQQl4-0/VTeBwb_AdgI/AAAAAAAAHc0/DVLSaY05_kQ/s350/city_hall_oconnell_davis.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Daniel O'Connell in conversation with Thomas Davis<br />in the beautiful surroundings of Dublin's City Hall</i></div><br /><br />To see the rest of the series click on the Where? label below. To see those still remaining to be solved click on unsolved in any of those in which it appears.<br /><br />http://photopol.blogspot.com/2015/04/where-is-it-no-36.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Póló)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19109033.post-340449863797437930Sun, 19 Apr 2015 15:19:00 +00002015-04-19T17:21:51.096+01:00GenealogyGreat War RoadshowGuinness ArchiveGuinness StorehouseThe Great War at the Guinness Storehouse<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oMEJBeBeoys/VTLPO253eVI/AAAAAAAAHbo/mMRGKy-vwGU/s1600/ww1_guinness_storehouse_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oMEJBeBeoys/VTLPO253eVI/AAAAAAAAHbo/mMRGKy-vwGU/s350/ww1_guinness_storehouse_1.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a></div><br />During this year, the 100th anniversary of the first full year of WWI, there is a clatter of talks, seminars, plays, re-enactments and the rest taking place throughout the country. <br /><br />Myles Dungan, known to the public for his weekly history show on RTÉ radio and his book on WWI, brought his Great War Roadshow into partnership the the Guinness Archive for a day to give us an excellent conference on various aspects of the war.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qzd5ZFQR98Y/VTLPO51BOaI/AAAAAAAAHbs/LoPbLbBCCYs/s1600/ww1_guinness_storehouse_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qzd5ZFQR98Y/VTLPO51BOaI/AAAAAAAAHbs/LoPbLbBCCYs/s350/ww1_guinness_storehouse_2.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a></div><br />The Archive contributed this fine hall in the Guinness Storehouse, along with an early morning coffee and pastries, and, once inside the building, you could do the tour for free during the lunch break.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Hi7GCQRySx8/VTLBDo0xzXI/AAAAAAAAHak/HS2v-aBuRIc/s1600/ww1_guinness_trish%2B-%2BCopy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Hi7GCQRySx8/VTLBDo0xzXI/AAAAAAAAHak/HS2v-aBuRIc/s350/ww1_guinness_trish%2B-%2BCopy.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Trish Fallon</i></div><br />Trish Fallon, from the Archive, welcomed us all in great style, brought us up to date with the location's housekeeping, and offered us the continuing cooperation of the Archive in our historical and genealogical endeavours.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PlNmQMT4n4o/VTLBDsIYkVI/AAAAAAAAHao/PHjvpyAWEMg/s1600/ww1_guinness_myles_1%2B-%2BCopy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PlNmQMT4n4o/VTLBDsIYkVI/AAAAAAAAHao/PHjvpyAWEMg/s350/ww1_guinness_myles_1%2B-%2BCopy.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Myles Dungan</i></div><br />Myles Dungan, effectively MC for the day, kicked off with his own contribution, appropriately titled <i>Lions, Donkeys and Paddies: The Irish Experience of the Great War</i>. <br /><br />He took us through a wide range of material, including the Gallipoli campaign, and identified some of the donkeys whose names had a familiar ring, Haig and Gough among them. Others I had not heard of but they didn't bring any credit on themselves or their country.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ig4906ngTqA/VTLBDjUUDkI/AAAAAAAAHag/bvJsEyTFb9I/s1600/ww1_guinness_ciaran_1%2B-%2BCopy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ig4906ngTqA/VTLBDjUUDkI/AAAAAAAAHag/bvJsEyTFb9I/s350/ww1_guinness_ciaran_1%2B-%2BCopy.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Ciarán Wallace</i></div><br />Ciarán Wallace, of UCD, in a talk entitled <i>Keeping the Home Fires Burning: Civilian Life in Wartime Ireland</i>, gave us a fascinating overview of the home front, a front that tends to be forgotten in the heat of battle. We heard of families trying to cope with rising prices, of the munitions factories which gave some employment, of the resistance to conscription, and of the dreaded telegrams from the front.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wklsANWnFCI/VTLB1k6Zf-I/AAAAAAAAHa4/C2ldzAKhDSs/s1600/ww1_guinness_jack_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wklsANWnFCI/VTLB1k6Zf-I/AAAAAAAAHa4/C2ldzAKhDSs/s350/ww1_guinness_jack_1.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Upside down union jack, shell factory, Parkgate St.</i></div><br />I was amused by this detail from his picture of the Shell Factory at Parkgate St. One of the few occasions I have seen the Union Jack portrayed upside down. Those who know me will know that this is my version of bird watching.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Gf-7ZuHz0bQ/VTLB1Rf_tpI/AAAAAAAAHbA/drmP8xudJlo/s1600/ww1_guinness_gordon_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Gf-7ZuHz0bQ/VTLB1Rf_tpI/AAAAAAAAHbA/drmP8xudJlo/s350/ww1_guinness_gordon_1.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Gordon Power</i></div><br />Gordon Power gave us <i>Irish Military Genealogy 1900-1922 - Tracing your WW1 Ancestors</i>. <br /><br />He showed us the painstaking work involved in teasing out the whole story from genealogical and other records and dazzled us with his analysis of photographic material. Sherlock Holmes was only in the halfpenny place beside this guy.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Qmy_SgnWm0k/VTLCrNm-RDI/AAAAAAAAHbQ/p9v4hkDyyEo/s1600/ww1_guinness_deirdre_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Qmy_SgnWm0k/VTLCrNm-RDI/AAAAAAAAHbQ/p9v4hkDyyEo/s350/ww1_guinness_deirdre_1.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Deirdre McParland</i></div><br />Deirdre McParland, the Guinness Archive Manager, spoke on <i>Guinness and the War</i>. A huge number of employees joined up with the encouragement of the company. Preference, if you can call it that in hindsight, was given to single men but volunteers came from all ranks and grades within the company right up to board level. Jobs were held open for those lucky enough to survive the conflict and this applied whether or not they were fit for work on return.<br /><br />Incidentally, a very abbreviated version of the Guinness Archive can now be interrogated <a href="http://www.guinness-storehouse.com/en/GenealogySearch.aspx" target="blank">online</a> and if you find an employee who is a direct ancestor you can get a copy of their employment records. <br /><br />So, if you are doing your family tree and are related to, but not descended from, a Guinness employee you'd better buttonhole a surviving direct descendant to accompany you on your trip into the Archive. I was lucky enough to get in before these restrictions applied and I have the records of some of my cousins. They are absolutely fascinating. [Lest I get anyone into trouble, I should say that I have shared these records with my cousin, who is a direct descendant, and he is perfectly happy with me having them.] So, if you're in my position, get hold your Guinness descendants while there are some of them still around and get in there quick.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fv_wOrU_-So/VTLCrEfgmMI/AAAAAAAAHbU/G_JXF7zNk1g/s1600/ww1_guinness_brendan_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fv_wOrU_-So/VTLCrEfgmMI/AAAAAAAAHbU/G_JXF7zNk1g/s350/ww1_guinness_brendan_1.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Brendan McQuaile</i></div><br />Finally, Brendan McQuaile gave us <i>March Away My Brothers</i> in which he acted out the journey of a young lad, Lar Kelly, from Bridgefoot Street in the Liberties. This took us just up to the 1914 Christmas Truce, soon after which Lar was blown to smithereens. Based very loosely on a real person, this was a combination of acting and song, got across with great gusto.<br /><br />Memo: <a href="http://photopol.com/james_st/4generations.html" target="blank">Four Generations of Coopers in Guinness</a> - my cousins the Flemings.<br /><br />http://photopol.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-great-war-at-guinness-storehouse.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Póló)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19109033.post-6270305935482067153Tue, 14 Apr 2015 23:08:00 +00002015-04-16T00:14:41.043+01:00Cathy ScuffilClontarf Historical SocietySouth Circular RoadAll Quiet on the Western Front<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DXMkv0ND0vs/VS1fFuMxezI/AAAAAAAAA90/fAEgbn7brBc/s1600/cathy_scuffil_clontarf_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DXMkv0ND0vs/VS1fFuMxezI/AAAAAAAAA90/fAEgbn7brBc/s350/cathy_scuffil_clontarf_1.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Cathy Scuffil with 1911 map of her native Dolphin's Barn<br />Click any image for a larger version</i></div><br />Last night the Southside ventured Northside to educate the natives on that well known boulevard the South Circular Road (SCR). They learned that it wasn't really circular; that it was originally built by the military to join up some of their emplacements (barracks/jail); that houses were only gradually built along it, initially in small terraces, the names of which are almost lost; and that it was never finished. It was conceived along with the North Circular Road to ring the city but the two never joined up and are still separated by the Phoenix Park.<br /><br />The southsider, was Cathy Scuffil, who had done her masters thesis on the SCR and the northside location was St. John the Baptist Centre in Clontarf, home to the Clontarf Historical Society. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QnImKw7MsPI/VS1fMGaYqOI/AAAAAAAAA-A/-_7jEbTZm6I/s1600/dolphins_barn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QnImKw7MsPI/VS1fMGaYqOI/AAAAAAAAA-A/-_7jEbTZm6I/s350/dolphins_barn.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Dolphins Barn postcard 1910</i></div><br />Cathy was born and raised in Dolphin's Barn, so she had a head start in her study. But, as she told us, the area she thought she knew, she didn't know at all, and her thesis was a voyage of discovery.<br /><br />She wanted to study her own area and her supervisor required her to take a substantial piece of road, so she chose the SCR and focussed on the then newly released digitised 1911 census.<br /><br />The results were fascinating, not just looking at a freeze frame of those living on the road in 1911 but chasing up their lives, with particular emphasis on a number of families.<br /><br />For years the road was identified in sections such as SCR Portobello, SCR Dolphin's Barn, and this was reflected in the numbering system. In fact, before those sections were consolidated, habitations along the road consisted of individual isolated terraces, each with its own numbering system. Now it is just numbered from one end to the other and lots of interesting features have gone.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HywdBzOAiD8/VS1fMF1v_rI/AAAAAAAAA-M/o10eyVld-jg/s1600/leonards_corner_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HywdBzOAiD8/VS1fMF1v_rI/AAAAAAAAA-M/o10eyVld-jg/s350/leonards_corner_1.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Leonard's Corner <br />looking east to St. Kevin's church c. 1911</i></div><br />The Poddle river, which eventually flows into the Liffey, has been culverted since way back. Cathy showed us pictures of the no man's land laneways under which the river now flows.These pathways once represented parish boundaries and they have not been built on because, in theory at least, nobody owns the river.<br /><br />We heard of industries such as the White Heather Laundry and its covert purchasing of rat poison; of the tramline which never quite reached Rialto; of the Wicklow widows who had married locals after coming to town for work; and of Monsignor Kennedy whose territory stretched from James's St. to Dolphin's Barn and who came to a sticky end after falling down the front steps of the Parochial House. I have a <i>carte de visite</i> picture of him from my granny's papers.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mxI1_DtQqkA/VS1fMA3ITMI/AAAAAAAAA98/CYEMgjIm2vU/s1600/leonards_corner_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mxI1_DtQqkA/VS1fMA3ITMI/AAAAAAAAA98/CYEMgjIm2vU/s350/leonards_corner_2.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Leonard's Corner <br />looking west towards Dolphin's Barn c. 1911</i></div><br />The SCR at Leonard's Corner is intersected by Clanbrassil St. which was a major shopping street for the nearby Jewish community.<br /><br />Much later, in the 1940s, a granduncle by marriage, and my godmother, lived in a house just out of shot at the left of the above picture. When they moved in it was a Jewish house, but as the Jews died off or emigrated and as the Christian family gradually took up more of the house, it ended up a fully Gentile house, but not before the family became accustomed to performing Shabbos Goy services for their co-tenants on their sabbath.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IQgntMNbFHA/VS2aYfoEBII/AAAAAAAAHZ4/EETherhbhi4/s1600/scr_cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IQgntMNbFHA/VS2aYfoEBII/AAAAAAAAHZ4/EETherhbhi4/s350/scr_cover.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a></div><br />If you want to take a more systematic look at the SCR in 1911 you should read Cathy's <a href="http://www.fourcourtspress.ie/books/2013/south-circular-road-dublin-ww1/" target="blank">book</a> <i>The South Circular Road, Dublin, on the eve of the First World War</i>.<br /><br />My own associations with the road are from a more modern era, as you will gather from the above. So I hope Cathy will revisit this area and bring us up to date on its later goings on.<br /><br />A final remark: Cathy was not the only crosser of the Liffey in the context of the SCR; the road itself ends up on the north bank at Islandbridge.<br /><br />http://photopol.blogspot.com/2015/04/all-quiet-on-western-front.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Póló)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19109033.post-7901985226620695222Mon, 13 Apr 2015 17:05:00 +00002015-04-13T18:06:20.236+01:00John Dormanliberty hallone city one bookRaheny LibraryIf ever you go ... <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KmHJ3SPvg9k/VSvqQG66mFI/AAAAAAAAHZI/ucDcXp2d46c/s1600/liberty_hall_dorman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KmHJ3SPvg9k/VSvqQG66mFI/AAAAAAAAHZI/ucDcXp2d46c/s350/liberty_hall_dorman.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>"Shaming the Custom House" Liberty Hall<br />Click on any image for a larger version</i></div><br />I have taken my title from a verse of Paddy Kavanagh's<br /><blockquote>If ever you go to Dublin town<br />In a hundred years or so<br />Inquire for me in Baggot Street <br />And what I was like to know.</blockquote>That was the title for last year's "<a href="http://www.dublinonecityonebook.ie/node/315" target="blank">One City, One Book</a>" and John Dorman has taken some of the poems in the book and sketched the locations described in them.<br /><br />His exhibition is currently in Raheny library till the end of the month (April). It is well worth a visit. The sketches incorporate buildings and maps of their environment, a sense of object and of place.<br /><br />The one above is quite obviously Liberty Hall and the accompanying poem by Austin Clarke (below) only goes a small bit of the way to expressing how I feel about this monument to 1960s' hubris and pretentiousness. Anyway, give it a read yourself and see.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NIKvlvP1SW0/VSvqP_JNE8I/AAAAAAAAHZM/S8ieNmkOmrw/s1600/new_liberty_hall_clarke.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NIKvlvP1SW0/VSvqP_JNE8I/AAAAAAAAHZM/S8ieNmkOmrw/s350/new_liberty_hall_clarke.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Poem written during the construction of Liberty Hall</i></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-A23zpojJ7YA/VSvqP3IoGiI/AAAAAAAAHZE/dPe8Tq-43IM/s1600/dorman_raheny_lib_stand.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-A23zpojJ7YA/VSvqP3IoGiI/AAAAAAAAHZE/dPe8Tq-43IM/s350/dorman_raheny_lib_stand.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Part of the exhibition in Raheny library</i></div><br />You can see more of Dorman's sketches on his website, both in <a href="http://www.dorman.ie/sketches%20frame-if%20ever%20you%20go.html" target="blank">this series</a> and albums covering a <a href="http://www.dorman.ie/sketches%20menu.html" target="blank">wider range</a> of subjects.<br /><br />My own comment on Liberty Hall is fully captured in this visual (not in the exhibition !).<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AOa6EY-3MSU/VSv1ahjoY3I/AAAAAAAAHZk/ccuyOUtV7vU/s1600/liberty_kong.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AOa6EY-3MSU/VSv1ahjoY3I/AAAAAAAAHZk/ccuyOUtV7vU/s350/liberty_kong.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a></div><br />http://photopol.blogspot.com/2015/04/if-ever-you-go.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Póló)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19109033.post-7767096244715964198Thu, 09 Apr 2015 00:05:00 +00002015-04-09T01:25:59.478+01:00jerseyjersey evening postmuseumNoirmont PointoccupationCold Revenge<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lTBt_PTkDgk/VSWrxsDpyqI/AAAAAAAAHY0/ixfPqEaq-xM/s1600/blocos_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lTBt_PTkDgk/VSWrxsDpyqI/AAAAAAAAHY0/ixfPqEaq-xM/s350/blocos_1.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>German WWII Defences, La Corbière (MP2) Jersey (CI)<br />Click on any image for a larger version</i></div><br />Once upon a time, a long time ago (1961) when I was working in Jersey (CI) I became aware of the Nazi occupation of the island covering the period 1940-45. The signs of the occupation were to be seen along part of the coast in the form of the observation towers and gun batteries which were to provide a "ring of steel" around the island.<br /><br />Although more had been planned, only three towers were constructed before the end of the occupation: No.2 at <a href="http://photopol.com/jersey/blocos.html" target="blank">La Corbière</a> (shown above); No.3 at the north-west most tip of the island; and No.1 at Noirmont Point, overlooking St. Brelade's Bay.<br /><br />It was this last one I chose for my suggestion that it be turned into a German museum with a certain amount of bells and whistles. I made the suggestion in a letter to the Jersey Evening Post, the island's only newspaper, and one which came through the occupation in grand style.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZL_P-YJlDf0/VSWoSIuQI6I/AAAAAAAAHYk/0tl62qlW5lg/s1600/noirmont_letters_JEP_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZL_P-YJlDf0/VSWoSIuQI6I/AAAAAAAAHYk/0tl62qlW5lg/s500/noirmont_letters_JEP_1.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>My letter suggesting a museum, <br />and the put down by G C H LE COCQ</i></div><br />I was quickly put down by G C H LE COCQ who was very insulted by my suggestion, and there the matter rested.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9vg9lyqnXpc/VSWoSM207hI/AAAAAAAAHYg/rNqerO1UHLM/s1600/jep_noirmont_comment_2_2015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9vg9lyqnXpc/VSWoSM207hI/AAAAAAAAHYg/rNqerO1UHLM/s350/jep_noirmont_comment_2_2015.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>My recent comment to the Jersey Evening Post<br />and C Le Verdic's reply</i></div><br />Jumping forward to today, the Post reported recently that an archeological dig at Grouville had turned up a ceramic plate with a <a href="http://jerseyeveningpost.com/news/2015/04/04/grouville-dig-turns-up-ceramic-plate-with-swastika/" target="blank">swastika</a> on it. I was reminded of my 1961 suggestion and drew the paper's attention to it anew in a comment on their piece (above).<br /><br />This evoked a reply from C Le Verdic as follows:<br /><blockquote><i>What a superbly penned put down from G.C.H. Le Cocq (not De Dotteville, then?) and what superb revenge has been served cold by Noirmont eventually getting your museum and, as far as I know, Le Cocq not getting his cross.<br /><br />P.S. Well done keeping the cuttings. I would have done the same!</i></blockquote>So I <a href="http://www.jersey.com/english/sightsandactivities/attractions/attractions/Pages/noirmontcommandbunker.aspx" target="blank">checked it out</a>, and sure enough <blockquote><i> The bunker has been restored to a very high standard and provides a unique insight into the sheer scale and thoroughness of German military engineering.</i></blockquote>I'm sure it lacks some of my suggested bells and whistles but it is a restoration.<br /><br />It is said that revenge is a dish best served cold and it is none the less sweet for a wait of over half a century.<br /><br />http://photopol.blogspot.com/2015/04/cold-revenge.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Póló)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19109033.post-2879661009597111894Mon, 06 Apr 2015 13:18:00 +00002015-04-06T14:25:43.876+01:00father brownephotographyselfieFather Browne<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hjNPnsmXUAk/VSJ-uLCPX1I/AAAAAAAAHYI/y4QaPFtvWZs/s1600/fr_browne_sp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hjNPnsmXUAk/VSJ-uLCPX1I/AAAAAAAAHYI/y4QaPFtvWZs/s350/fr_browne_sp.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Father Frank Browne SJ<br />(1880-1960)<br />Click on any image for a larger version</i></div><br />I have never read any of his religious writings or heard any of his sermons. In fact, I have no interest whatsoever in them.<br /><br />For me, he is simply a dedicated and pioneering photographer.<br /><br />He achieved world fame for his photos from the first two legs of the Titanic's maiden voyage. It was only a refusal by his superiors that saved him from the last leg, which would most likely have meant we would have ended up with no photos at all.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ol93fhN_mUw/VSJ-uPUD9hI/AAAAAAAAHX8/7zgvacvJ_1E/s1600/fr_browne_bedroom_lab_emo_1931_sp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ol93fhN_mUw/VSJ-uPUD9hI/AAAAAAAAHX8/7zgvacvJ_1E/s350/fr_browne_bedroom_lab_emo_1931_sp.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>Father Browne's room/lab at Emo (1931)</i></div><br />Photography was a passion for him all of his life and the above photo shows his room at the Jesuit house at Emo from 1930 to 1957. He had organised extra power points for his photographic equipment and also special blinds and curtains for his window so that it could be turned into a darkroom within seconds.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-snFHIdNEVXY/VSJ-uDvZXAI/AAAAAAAAHYE/dtGslcM6tVU/s1600/fr_browne_vincents_1938_sp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-snFHIdNEVXY/VSJ-uDvZXAI/AAAAAAAAHYE/dtGslcM6tVU/s350/fr_browne_vincents_1938_sp.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>"Self under Anaesthetic" (1938)</i></div><br />But the photo above is really the point of my post. The ultimate "selfie". In 1938 he was taken into Vincent's Hospital for an appendectomy. He rigged up his camera in the operating theatre with a time delay on the shutter so that he could take his own photo while being anaesthetised. Now, that takes some beating for its day.<br /><br /><i>The Father Browne website is <a href="http://www.fatherbrowne.com/" target="blank">here</a>. I have <a href="http://photopol.blogspot.ie/2012/04/myxomatosis.html" target="blank">mentioned</a> him before on this blog. And I would like to thank E E O'Donnell SJ and Messenger Publications for the above photos and information. The <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Life-Lens-Father-Browne/dp/1910248002/ref=sr_1_1" target="blank">book</a> is cleverly titled "The Life and Lens of Father Browne" and it is an inspiring read.</i><br /><br />http://photopol.blogspot.com/2015/04/father-browne.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Póló)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19109033.post-3471403790785023814Mon, 30 Mar 2015 11:19:00 +00002015-07-18T09:27:48.439+01:00DrumcliffremainsSt. Luke'sSt. Peter'sThe CoombeW B YeatsWho dem bones?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Vv-I3r43yGw/VRkfTBvDfiI/AAAAAAAAHW8/So4uzNreui0/s1600/wb_yeats_augustus_john.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Vv-I3r43yGw/VRkfTBvDfiI/AAAAAAAAHW8/So4uzNreui0/s350/wb_yeats_augustus_john.jpg" style="border:0px;"/></a><br /><i>W B Yeats by Augustus John<br />Click on any image for a larger version</i></div><br />I thought I had debunked the main potential scandal surrounding the island in Lough Gill in Sligo which is identified with W B Yeats's well known (& worn) poem <i>The Lake Isle of Inisfree</i>.<br /><br />It was Inisfree before it was <a href="http://photopol.com/sligo/rat_island.html" target="blank">Rat Island</a> and as far as the official record is concerned it has always been Innisfree.<br /><br />But, following this year's <a href="http://photopol.blogspot.ie/2015/03/family-history-day-2015.html" target="blank">Family History Day</a> at DCLA I am reminded of another controversy that is far from solved. Anthony J Jordan reminded us that there is still doubt about <a href="http://photopol.blogspot.ie/2015/03/family-history-day-2015.html#yeats" target="blank">whose bones</a> are actually in the grave attributed to Yeats in the Drumcliff graveyard and that one raises this question locally at one's peril. [Update 17/7/2015: Lara Marlowe's <a href="http://photopol.com/pics/yeats_bones_it180715.pdf" target="blank">piece</a> in the Irish Times of 17/7/2015 seems, however, to lay this to rest once and for all.]<br /><br />I'm sure there are many such cases around the world, but that one reminded me of one closer to home. In Yeats's case the bones had been moved from the original grave leading to the possibility of wrong identification when the Irish State finally decided to repatriate them from France in accordance with the poet's wishes.<br /><br />The case I'm thinking of is not one of wrong identification but of the impossibility of identification following the removal of all the remains from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Peter%27s_Church,_Aungier_Street,_Dublin" target="blank">St. Peter's</a> church graveyard in Aungier St. to St. Luke's in the Coombe in 1980 (most) and 2003 (remainder).<br /><blockquote><i>The burials from the churchyard of St Peter’s, Aungier St (founded 1685) were exhumed by order of the RCB of the Church of Ireland, prior to private sale of that site. The work was carried out by Fanagans Funeral Directors in 1980, under an exhumation licence. The resulting work has been found to have been crudely carried out, by modern and archaeological standards. ‘Three hundred and six polythene bags of human bones, along with 31 timber crates, total representing c. 1,200 individuals, were taken to the crypts of St Luke’s church, and stored there. In addition, 19 lead coffins were placed here’ (Doyle 2001, 4). A block wall was constructed to safeguard the bones. This wall has since been breached, and the bones scattered over the south west area of the crypts.<br /><br />The site of St Peter’s graveyard, Aungier St, was re- excavated in 2003. On present evidence, and prior to the strat graphic analysis, the date of the burials which remained in the graveyard of St Peter’s cannot be determined, due to the level of disturbance caused by the mechanical exhumation in 1980. More data may be forthcoming from the Consultant Osteoarchaeologist’s analysis of the remains.<br /><br />The burials from St Peter’s which were placed in the crypts of St Luke’s are jumbled, and uncontexted, and it would not be possible to assemble the bones to individuals. In addition to the crude removal, and storage in groups in bags, the remains have been subsequently vandalised, and now constitute a vast charnel heap.<br /><br /><a href="http://dublincity.ie/sites/default/files/content/Planning/HeritageConservation/Documents/conservation_plan_plean_caomhnaithe_st_lukes.pdf#page=68" target="blank">St. Luke's Conservation plan (2005) p66</a></i><br /></blockquote>I haven't yet checked out some of the famous people who might have been buried in St. Peter's and whose individual honouring is now moot. <br /><br />There is one person I know was buried there, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Vallancey" target="blank">General Charles Vallancey</a>. I am aware of him through his confrontations with Major Benjamin Fisher, who built the Martello Towers. Whether the General's bones were jumbled in the general confusion or whether he was in a lead coffin and is possibly still identifiable I don't know.<br /><br />Coincidentally, I tweeted about him only recently in his capacity as a self promoting but <a href=" http://ainm.ie/Bio.aspx?ID=1160" target="blank">delusional expert</a> in the Irish language, and funnily enough that tweet was retweeted just this morning.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JtRjwDxr6vk/VRmcGftl-AI/AAAAAAAAHXo/XbOK4GZwvnw/s1600/vallancey_tweet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JtRjwDxr6vk/VRmcGftl-AI/AAAAAAAAHXo/XbOK4GZwvnw/s350/vallancey_tweet.jpg"style="border:0px;" /></a><br /><i>This morning's coincidental retweet</i></div><!-- <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9GxqbZoC09g/VRkuXRB-yaI/AAAAAAAAHXM/UhL2LgAEzPY/s1600/lukes_conservation_cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="blank"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9GxqbZoC09g/VRkuXRB-yaI/AAAAAAAAHXM/UhL2LgAEzPY/s350/lukes_conservation_cover.jpg" style="border:0px;" /></a></div>--><br /><br />http://photopol.blogspot.com/2015/03/who-dem-bones.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Póló)0